New Beginnings
by ImaginationGoneWild92
Summary: I'm Alex, life changed pretty quickly but you know, you gotta roll with it. Alexandra is a kid that has had a rough life, but all changes in a matter of hours, what happens when she moves in to Wayne Manor and discovers she is more than she thought.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Well new fanfic, hope you enjoy!

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I sat in the back of the car looking out the window, watching Gotham go by. Before today I would have never gotten into a car without asking a question or two, but nothing mattered now, nothing at all. I sighed, things had been going so well. Two months ago me, my Mom and my Step-Dad Kevin had moved to Gotham from Central City. My Mom had gotten a job in Wayne Tech, she was going to get to research the things she loved. Kevin had got a job with a new building contractor, but I knew he wasn't happy with the move. I never liked Kevin, he was mean, cruel even, he was always drinking and he would shout at me for doing nothing. I wondered if Mom had noticed or did she choose not to. They had got a new apartment and I had enrolled in a new school, Gotham North, it was nice, I had made friends. But everything changed last night. I was in my room, trying to sleep, when I heard my Mom and Kevin argue again. They always did this, I hated it. He wanted to go back to Central City, he said he hated Gotham. Mom had told him to quiet down, but that didn't work, he then started again on his favourite subject, my last name. He demanded that Mom changed it to his, Mom refused, she always refused. I had had enough, I had gotten out of bed and pulled on a hoodie, opened my window and got out on to the fire escape. I nearly screamed in fright and slipped, but caught myself. Standing before me was Batman and Robin. It was this moment that I wanted to take back, I should have gone back in to the apartment, I should have helped. A gun shot rang out, I froze and spun around, Batman ran in, but Robin held me back, a second shot rang out. Batman appeared around the corner, I knew it was over, Kevin had done it, I turned and buried my head in Robin's chest and cried, I felt him place his hand on my back and rubbed it, telling me it was going to be alright, I breathed in his scent, finding comfort in it.

The rest of the night was a blur to me of police, interviews, people and lights. A police woman came over to me and asked me did I have anyone I could go to. I shook my head, Mom was an only child and both my grandparents were dead. I was all alone. The police woman nodded and told a plain clothes detective. I looked up at him, he was tall with greying red hair and a moustache, he looked down at her with a knowing sympathetic look.

"It's ok kid, you're gonna be fine," He smiled gently to me.

A police woman took a list of things I wanted from the house, and put them in a back pack for me. She told me to get in a police car, I got in the car and she drove to Downtown. We had stopped outside a tall house, I had gotten out of the car, hugging my bag close. The cop led me up the stairs to the door, it opened and there were kids every where, screaming and running around, it was past 11, what was going on. Then it had hit me, it was a foster house, there was no where else to put me. The cop gave the woman a form to sign and the woman had shown me to a room. The room was tiny and there was a small bed in the corner, it was almost like a prison, my own personal prison. I curled up on the bed and cried myself to sleep, I never felt so alone.

* * *

"Are you sure sir?"

"Yes, she is my daughter, there is no doubt."

* * *

I had woken up to a thump on the door, the woman told me that there was someone here for me. So I got my things and went down the stairs, dodging kids. When I went out the front door, there was a man waiting for me, he was tall and slender and almost stood to attention.

"Hello Miss, very nice to meet you," He said in a polished English accent.

"Hi," I said then looked at the floor, my black hair cloaking my face. "I'm Alex." I said just in case he didn't know. He had nodded and opened the door of the car and I had gotten in.

So now looking about the window, the scenery changed. The houses got bigger and the city was further away. The car pulled in to a driveway, and before my eyes there was a massive house, turrets almost came out from the sides. The car stopped by the front door and I got out.

"Welcome Miss Alexandra," the man said.

"Thanks, I'm sorry, I didn't get your name." I smiled sheepishly.

"Alfred miss," He said taking my bag and heading up the stairs to the house.

I trotted after him and my breath was taken away again when I walked in to the door, the hall way was huge and dominated by a sweeping staircase at the back.

A voice broke the silence, "Is she hear?" A boy about my age came out of a room off the hall. He had jet black hair and shocking blue eyes. He ran towards me and skidded to a halt.

"Easy now Master Richard, she a little fragile," Alfred warned the new face.

He nodded to the older man, "I'm sorry." Then turned to me with a smile, "Hi, I'm Dick Grayson, nice to meet you." He hugged me close, something triggered in my mind, I couldn't put my finger on it, it was familiar. Foot steps came down the stairs, there was a man standing there, he was tall, broad, about 6 foot 4, he had jet black hair and brown eyes.

"Hello Alexandra, I'm Bruce Wayne," He smiled down at me.

My jaw dropped a little, the Bruce Wayne, "Call me Alex," I patted myself on the back for stay cool.

He smiled, and lead me and Dick in to a room off the hall, it was a stunning as the rest of the house and a fire blazed in the hearth. Bruce turned back to me, "Alex, there is something that I want to tell you and please hear me out before you react." I narrowed my eye brows, Bruce continued, "This might come as a shock, but I am your biological father."

My jaw did drop, all composure gone, how could I have been so stupid! I have an IQ of 140, my full name; Alexandra Brice Wayne. I could have kicked myself. Bruce even looked like me too, although I didn't have his height, I was about an inch shorter than Dick. But he was my Dad, the guy that Mom had talked about, it was him, he was there, standing in front of me. I stepped forward and did the only thing I could think of; I hugged him. He enveloped me in a hug, his towering height acting like a shield from the world. He broke away and turned to Dick, "Give her the tour ok? I'll be back in awhile." Bruce smiled at me again and patted my shoulder.

Dick grinned at me, "Come this way." He took my hand and led me through the far doors. The house was vast to say the least; there was a huge dining room, several sitting rooms, a large kitchen with a warm hearth that looked like it could warm the house. Dick lead me down a corridor. "This is my favourite place," He swung the doors open to reveal a large, bright, airy room. Mirrors ran along the sides and all around the room was gymnastic equipment, there were rings, bars, the horse, mats for floor work. I walked past Dick looking at the room, it was amazing.

"Can I?" I asked him pointing at the mats.

"Yeah sure, I didn't know you could do this. Well come to think about it, I don't know much about you at all." Dick grinned, "But yeah, go ahead."

I smiled at him and put my hair in to a pony tail and took off my shoes. I stood on one corner and centred myself, it had been a long time since I had done this. I took two larger powerful steps and kicked off the ground with my feet flipping in the air making sure my body was tucked correctly. As I landed I grinned to myself, I still got it, so I launched off again doing a double round off. I landed a little heavily on my feet, I was out of practice. I walked off the mat and Dick came over.

"Wow, your good." He said clapping his hands.

I curled a loose strand of hair back from my face, "Thanks," I grinned. He showed me around the room and told me about all the different machines and frames. I listened intently enjoying his passion of gymnastics and acrobatics. Our conversation was broken when Alfred appeared at the door.

"Lunch is served children," He said and walked out of the room.

Dick and I followed him to the dining room and sat down. Alfred brought us warm chicken and fries. I thanks him and we both tucked in. Dick and I chatted about our lives and I learned that his parents had died, they were murdered by a criminal called Danny Zuko, but Zuko had justice brought to him and was now in prison. So Dick had no one, but the Bruce took him in, wow, I thought, Bruce takes in strays.

Dick finished his meal and nearly licked the plate clean, but a look from Alfred stopped him in is tracks. I giggled, it was the first time I laughed in days.

The day wore on, but in a good way, it past peacefully. We went outside and played basketball. Dick was good, but I had him a few times. Then he shows me up to my new room. I walked in and fell in love with it; the walls were high, a four poster bed took centre stage and a fire place was on the opposite wall, a door lead off to an ensuite. I was over come with emotion, tears flowed down my face.

"Whoa, are you ok?" Dick said.

"Yeah, sorry, just a little overwhelmed," I sniffed, wiping my face clear of tears.

"Hey, its gonna be ok, trust me. You'll get whelmed soon." He hugged me.

"Whelmed?" I asked looking up at him.

"Yeah, I mean everyone is either overwhelmed or underwhelmed, people just need to be whelmed." Dick said shrugging his shoulders.

I laughed, "Thanks and I really mean it, thanks. It almost feels a little normal today."

Dick gave me a lopsided smile and wiped a tear with his thumb from my eye. "My room is down the hall, ok? Good night." He left me on my own for the first time since I arrived. I looked around at my new life, it all happen so fast. There was still the dark emptiness of where Mom was but it was lessened some how. I yawned, bed now for sure. The sheets were warm and soft, sleep took me, but my dreams were strange. Capes flowed in the wind, people leapt from windows. I jumped up from my sleep, breathing heavily. Something caught my eye out the window, but it disappeared pretty quickly. I got out of bed and went to check it out. I heard the window in the next room open, that was Dick's room. I ran to my door, nothing was going to happen to Dick, I couldn't let anything happen again.

I went down the corridor quietly. and put my hand on the door knob. It turned it slowly and leapt in the room. The figure in the corner moved to look at the door and I made a move. The person leapt at me and I dodged flicking my leg and tripping them so they landed flat on their back.

"Ok, ok stop," Dick's voice came from the floor.

"What the…?" I flicked on the light. For the second time that day my jaw hit the floor. Lying on the ground at my feet was Dick, but it wasn't totally Dick, he was Robin.

'You're Robin!" My voice went up about four octaves.

Dick stood up and rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah, sorta, you got me. And OW by the way."

"I'm so sorry," I pulled him up off the floor, "But what the hell?! You're Robin? And that must mean that Bruce, Bruce is Batman?"

Dick took off his eye mask, revealing his dark blue eyes, he nodded, "Yeah you got it." I had to sit down, this was a lot to take in. Dick sat beside me, "You ok?"

I exhaled, "My brain is about to implode, this is too much to take in."

Dick put his arm around me, "Hey it'll be ok, I was exactly where you are a year ago."

I nodded and smiled, life was going to be a little different from now on. But hey life changes and we gotta roll with the punches.


	2. Chapter 2

Authors Note: Hi guys! The is now in the time stream of the first season, I will only be doing a couple of episodes from this season, then going on to season 2. Enjoy!

* * *

Three years in the future:

I tapped my foot on the ground, "Come on, Come on," I muttered under my breath, today was the day! I looked over at Dick, he grinned at me behind the eye mask. It had been three years since my life had changed; my Mom was shot by my step-father, but instead I got adopted by Bruce Wayne, who turned out to be my biological Father! I discovered that he and his ward Dick Grayson, were not all they appeared to be, they were in fact Batman and Robin. Once I found out my Dad had given me a choice, I could just continue with my new life or if I wanted to I could join them as a team. Come on, what would you choose, of course I picked the latter! And so I became Batgirl, yeah a little cheesy, but come on, when your Dad is Batman what over name are you gonna to pick? So after months of training I was allowed out in to Gotham. I was glad that Dick was with me, he always kept an eye on me when we were on missions, part of me wanted to tell him that I was ok and to focus, but when something went wrong he was there in an instant.

Dick and I were on the top of the building looking down at Gotham Park, for some reason Mr. Freeze was on the rampage. "Come on, lets get this done," Dick said, and shot a rope across the park. I followed suit and swung down from the building. I shot a batarang at Freeze's ice cannon to get his attention.

"Batman," He hissed, "I was wondering when you'd appear."

Dick laughed, it was his trademark snigger almost, it echoed around the park, Freeze looked around to see where he was. I flipped off the rope and landed on Freezes helmet springing off it tucking and landing, Dick landed beside me. He fired two of his birdarangs at Freezes helmet has he was on the ground cracking the glass.

"Oh, Boy Wonder and Batgirl. The Bat send you to drag me off to prison? Frankly I'm underwhelmed," Freeze got to his feet.

"Great but we're kinda in a hurry," Dick said tapping his foot not the grass.

"Kids. Always in such a hurry, I prefer to preserve these moments forever," He raised the cannon.

"Not talking to you," I said sighing and pointing behind Freeze. Freeze turned about and from behind the rock leapt The Dark Knight, he spread his cape, making him look about twice his already giant size. And came down on Freeze like a ton of bricks, punching threw the glass of his helmet.

Soon Freeze was in cuffs and being lead away, I looked up at Dad, "Are we going now Batman?' He looked down at me and Dick, our faces hoping he would say yes.

"Get in the Batmobile," He said turning away.

"Oh yeah!" Dick whooped and punched the air, then high-fived me. Today was the day.

Metropolis was something else. It was so different to Gotham and Central City were I was born. It was clean and spacious, while Gotham, even though its my home, is filthy and well less grand. Today was the day, it was the day that Dick and I get to see inside the Hall of Justice. Dad along with Superman had started the Justice league to protect the earth, and more members joined over the years and soon it would be our turn. We waited for the others to arrive, and soon Green Arrow and Speedy joined us. Speedy was always a little cold in my opinion, but GA was almost good for a laugh. Aquaman and Aqualad came, I hadn't met them before, but they seemed nice. I was practically shaking with excitement and I gave Dick a smile. The last to show up ironically were the speedsters, The Flash and Kid Flash.

"Oh man! I knew we'd be the last ones here," Kid Flash swore as they skidded to a halt.

We walked towards the doors, and the nerves suddenly hit me, "Are you alright?" Dad's voice came from behind me.

"Yeah Batman, just a little spooked," I gulped.

Dick elbowed me, "Come on Batgirl, you fight worse than this at home!" I nodded, Dick was right. As we walked through the crowd I heard people gasp in amazement and take pictures, they pasted comments like; "Is that Batman?" and "Look its Robin and Batgirl," I held my head up as I walked, I gotta look good.

Green Arrow lent forward to Speedy, "Are you ready to see the inner hall?"

"Born that way," Speedy replied, I felt the same drive too, this is what we trained so hard for.

Aqualad gave me a smile, "Glad we're all here."

"Have all five side kicks ever been in the same place at the same time?" Kid Flash burst out.

"Don't call us sidekicks," Speedy snapped, "Not after today." Wow, whats gotten into him, I mused.

"Sorry," KF said, "It's the first time at the Hall, I'm a little overwhelmed."

Dick made a face, "You're overwhelmed, Freeze was underwhelmed, why isn't anyone just whelmed?" I laughed, he was always making up new words, but that got me a stern look off Dad, better keep the composer here.

We walked in to the Hall and all of us stopped in our tracks, "Maybe that's why Robin," I said pointing upwards. Around the inside of the Hall we're statues of the original members; Batman, Superman, The Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and Aquaman. It was pretty amazing. We came up to a door that said 'Authorised Personal Only', it opened and Red Tornado and Martian Manhunter were their to great us. Martian Manhunter's real name was J'onn J'onzz and Red Tornado was actually a robot, I wasn't looking up encrypted files on the Batcave computer, not at all.

"Robin, Batgirl, Speedy, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Welcome," J'onn said to us and lead the way through the doors. Dick and Kid Flash gave each other a fist pump. "You will now have unlimited access to the gym, our fully stocked galley and of course our library." We entered the library and it was wall to wall books, I was in a little haven, I love books.

"Make yourselves at home," The Flash said. Dick, KF and I took that invite and flopped on the chairs

The adults gathered at the top of the room, I heard Dad's deep voice, "Quick debrief to discuss the coincidence of four ice villains attacking on the same day we shouldn't be long," He turned and a camera scanner came out of the ceiling, it was part of the Zeta Beams that you could take all over the world, it scanned you and then you simply walked in, the first time I did it I was pretty scared, but now it got easier. It scanned the adults and then a door opened that read 'Justice League Members Only', but Speedy wasn't happy, no surprise there.

"So that's it? You promised us a real look inside, not a glorified backstage pass," He stood arms crossed and he looked pissed off.

"It's a first step," Aquaman spoke, "You've been granted access that very few people have."

"Oh really?" Speedy gestured to the window were members of the public were looking down and taking pictures, "Who cares what side of the glass we're on?

"Roy, you just need to be patient," Green Arrow tried to calm him, I could see this wasn't going well.

"What I need is respect, they're treating us like kids, worse, like sidekicks, we deserve better than this," Roy looked at us.

I looked at Dick, Kid Flash, Aqualad, we all had the same expression, "You're kidding right?" Roy looked shocked. "You're playing their game? Why? Because you think they play fair? Today was supposed to be the day! Step one in becoming full members of the Justice League."

"Well sure but I thought step one was a tour of HQ?" I said raising an eye brow.

"Except the Hall isn't the real HQ! I bet they never told you it's just a false front for tourists and a pitstop for catching Zeta Beam tele-porter tubes to the real thing; an orbiting satellite called The Watch Tower." Roy pointed towards the sky.

My eyes widened, I never heard of any of this, and by the look of the other teens neither had they, I glanced over at my Dad and he was glaring at Green Arrow and crossed his arms.

"I know, I know, but I though maybe we could make an exception?" Green Arrow asked my Dad. Did he know Dad at all? Batman make an exception? Come on dude.

"What? Nothing? That's it, it's not fair, I thought I was your partner Ollie, but apparently not," Roy threw down his hat, we all looked on in shock, this was mad, I mean why would he get so wound up about this? He turned and began to walk out, "Guess they're right about you four, you're not ready." And he left, just like that, out the door.

The moment was short lived by someone calling on the com-link, "Superman to Justice League, there has been an explosion in Project Cadmus, it's on fire."

I looked up at the screen, so that was Superman. The adults walked over and Dad spoke up, "I had to my suspicions about Project Cadmus This may present the perfect opportunity to…." But he was cut off.

"Zatara to Justice League, The Sorcerer is using the Amulet of Batten to block out the sun requesting full League response." Well that sounds serious, I thought.

"Superman?" Dad asked him.

"It's a small fire the departments got it under control," Superman reported.

"Then Cadmus can wait," Dad pushed a button, "All Leaguers rendezvous at Zatara's co-ordinates. Batman out." We got out of our seats, and walked over, my first league fight, this was gonna be good, "You lot stay put."

"What? Why?" I said.

"This is a League mission, you aren't trained with us yet," The Flash explained, "There'll be other missions."

"When you're ready, but for now, stay put," Dad stared at us, I knew that look, but I wasn't too happy about it. They all left through the far door, so Dick, Aqualad, Kid Flash and I were on our own.

"When we're ready? How are we ever going to be ready when they treat us like, like SideKicks?" KF stamped his foot.

"My mentor, my King, I thought he trusted me," Aqualad hung his head.

"They don't even trust us with the basics! They have a secret HQ in space!" KF shouted.

"What else aren't they telling us," Aqualad asked, "And what is Project Cadmus?"

I looked over at the computer, "Don't know, but I can find out." I grinned at Dick and we walked over to the computer. The thing with having Batman as your Dad and for Dick having him as your mentor, you get very good at hacking computers.

"Access Denied."

"Ha, wanna bet?" I laughed, I continued hacking and was breaking through.

"Whoa, how are you doing that?" Aqualad asked.

"Well she is Batman's daughter, right?" KF looked at me.

I nodded, "Same system as the Batcave," then motioned to Dick to hack the other system. Our work was done in no time. "Ok Cadmus, Genetics lab, here in DC. That's all there is," I clicked a few buttons trying to find more. "But if Batman's suspicious, maybe we should investigate?" I raised an eye brow and looked at Dick, Aqualad and Kid Flash.

"Solve their case before they do," Dick nodded in agreement.

"It would be poetic justice," Aqualad agreed.

"Hey, they're all about justice!" I shrugged.

"But they said stay put," Aqualad sighed.

Dick rolled his eyes, "For the blocking out the sun mission, not this!"

KF wanted an input, "Wait are you two going to Cadmus?" He asked putting his hands on my shoulder and Dick's, "Cause if you're going them I'm going."

We all turned and smiled at Aqualad. Come on dude, it's only a little trip to a burning building, what could possibly go wrong?

"So just like that? We're a team on a mission?" Aqualad said.

I nodded, "We didn't come here for a play date."

The fires at Cadmus had already died down when we got there, so I just swanned right in there, well I mean I leapt on to the second floor, come on, I'm Batgirl, I don't do front doors. The place smelt of burned wood, but it could have been a lot worse, it was a chemical lab. I turned my left arm to me, built in to my gauntlets was a computer, the hologram screen came up and I typed away looking for any information I could find. Dick had hacked the computer whilst KF and AL were searching around. I noticed something out of the corner of my eye but AL had spotted it.

"There is something here," He said walking out of the room. KF followed while Dick and I tried to get more information, we pulled some stats, and wow, this isn't normal, I thought, and looked over at Dick, he had got the same read out. We followed KF and AL out to the corridor, they were staring at the elevator.

"There was something in that elevator," Aqualad said.

KF shook his head, "I thought all elevators were meant to be locked down in a fire."

Dick rushed over and hit the down button, "This isn't right," He shook his head.

I bent my arm to look at my gauntlet, and pulled up the stats of the building, "Thought so, this is a high speed elevator, you don't need that in a two story building."

"Neither does what I saw," Aqualad said, I could sense the disturbance in his voice. But he walked forward and pried the door open. We walked over to the edged and looked down. I could see way there was an express speed elevator, it was a bottomless pit. Dick and I stood side by side and shot our ropes at the ceiling. He jumped first, he had no fear, I on the other hand hesitated. I felt AL's hand on my shoulder, "Are you alright?" He asked.

"Yeah sorry, just thinking," I smiled and jumped after Dick. It seemed like we were falling forever, sub level 10, sub level 13, then we stopped at sub level 26. I looked over at Dick, "I think we're at the end of our ropes."

He nodded, "This is gonna have to be our stop so," He swung to the edge and I followed. AL and KF arrived and swung over to the already crowded edge, I budged over to make room. Dick began to hack the door and I heard it unlock. AL pried the door open again. This strange corridor was in front us us, I wasn't too happy, it just didn't feel right.

"Welcome to Project Cadmus," Dick said. KF took off down the corridor to see what was going on, and we ran after him, but I need trying to run after a cat would have been easier, there was no way we were catching him up. We skidded to a halt at the end of the corridor and my jaw dropped, right before our eye were these giant creatures, they looked like gorillas crossed with elephants. I search for KF and I saw him on the far side of the beasts standing against a wall.

Once the giant Noah's Ark passed us, we got to the end of the corridor and there was another door. I grinned at Dick as he did his thing, I still needed to brush up on my hacking skills. The door slid open and all of us were in shock; lining the wall were giant pods and they contained these electrical creatures.

"They must be powering the whole place, that's way Cadmus is off the grid," I realised, Dick was already over hacking a computer. He pulled up the stats on the creatures.

"Whoa, look at theses things. The have super strength, telepathy, speed. They are living weapons," He said as it read over the screen, I leaned over his shoulder looking at the stats, they were impressive.

"They are engineering an army," KF said behind my head.

"Wait," I reached out and touched the screen, "What's this? Project Kr? The file is triple encrypted, Robin, can you hack this?"

"Give me to seconds," Dick typed furiously at the keys.

"Don't move!" A shout came from the other side of the room. I turned to look, a man was running in and at his heels were these creatures that looked like cats, but they were aliens, I took out my baton. I had modified it so it was long and I could use it like a sword. KF and AL stood beside me, we shielded Dick from the incomers.

"Aqualad? Kid Flash? Batgirl? Robin?" The incomer looked at us, he knew our names.

I recognised him, "Hey I know you, you are The Guardian? You're a hero."

"I do my best," Guardian said, he had a small little creature on his shoulder. I narrowed my eyes, I didn't trust them, jeez I'm starting to sound like my Dad.

"So what are you doing here?" KF asked him.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Guardian said, "Look, we'll call the Justice League, get this all sorted out."

"The league isn't going to approve of you breeding weapons," I said pointing at the creatures around his feet.

"Weapons, what do you..?" He stopped talking, I saw the creature on his shoulder look over to him and the horns on its head light up, this wasn't normal. "Ugh, my head… what have I…" Then I realised why it wasn't normal, "Attack! No mercy!'

"Damn it," I swore as the creatures ran, I threw a smoke screen down, and shot a line up to a beam, "Robin, have you got it?" But I needn't have asked that, I heard his trade mark laugh above me. I rolled my eyes, typical. But there wasn't enough time to relax, the creatures were on their way. I repelled one with my baton then double kicked two, flipping and landing on my feet. I pulled the line and landed on the beam above, I spotted a away out.

"Come on! This way!" The team followed me down the corridor, Dick was already there hacking the lift. "How's it going?" I asked him.

"Nearly there," He said.

KF and AL skidded around the corner and found us, "Oh such team player Rob and Bats!" KF said.

"Relax the doors open," Dick said and we ran in to the lift and shut the doors before the creatures caught up on us.

I looked at the levels, we were heading further down. "Why are we going down?" Aqualad asked.

"Yeah, dude! Out is up!" Kid Flash said.

"Project Kr is on sub level 52," Dick told them.

Aqualad rubbed the back of his neck, "This is getting out of control. Perhaps we should contact the league?"

But the lift doors opened on level 52, "Ah come on Aqualad," I said, "We're here already, may as well." I hopped out of the lift and looked around. The surroundings were very different, the walls were lined with a strange substance, and they glowed.

"Batgirl! Wait!" Aqualad tried to get me back in the lift. I looked back at him and rolled my eyes.

"Come on, sense of adventure! We need to find out what Project Kr is," I smiled as Dick stood by my side.

We ran down the hall way to where it forked, we stopped, I looked in either direction, but which way?

"Halt!" We looked up to see another creature, but different standing in the way of one of the corridors. "This way!" I ran down the other corridor and they others powered after me. A door opened before us and a woman was walking out holding a clip board.

"In there!" I yelled and ran past her in the door Aqualad braced it as the boys leapt in and then it snapped shut. Dick ran over and hacked the door so it was deadlocked. We all stood, breathing heavily. We were here, in Project Kr.

To be Continued…


	3. Chapter 3

**Authors Note: Hi all, enjoy and review, I will only be doing some episodes from season 1 then moving on to season 2. **

* * *

Part 2

Dick disabled the door, we were safe for the moment. "Eh guys, you might wanna see this," KF said. He typed something on the keys and the lights lit up the cave. I walked up beside Dick but my eyes wouldn't move off what I saw.

"Whoa," I gasped. Right before our eyes was Superman, but it wasn't Superman. This boy was dressed in all white with the red "S" on his chest, he looked of peaceful like he was sleeping. But my eyes fell on the three little creepy creatures that were above his head. I shuddered, they were so creepy, I edged a little closer to Dick.

"Big K little r, the atomic symbol for Krypton." KF walked over to the case and looked in at the boy. "Clone?"

"Robin, hack!" Aqualad looked down at him, he nodded and began logging in to the system.

Dick's fingers flew over the keys, I smiled he was making progress, "Ok Project Kr, Weapon Superboy. A clone that was grown in…. 16 weeks! From DNA acquired from Superman."

I rolled my eyes, "That was stolen from Superman! It wasn't for cadmus to just take!"

"Yeah there is no way the big man knows about this," KF nodded in agreement with me.

Dick read on, "The solar suit allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation 24/7, and those are genomorph-gnomes, telepathic, force feeding him an education."

I walked past Dick over to the case, "This is so wrong! What else could they be telling him? They're making a slave out of…well… Superman's son." I looked back over to the boys they gave me a sympathetic look, it just wasn't right.

Aqualad touched his belt, "No signal, we can't get in contact with the League. We're in to too deep."

"Literally," I mumbled, Dick grinned at me, it was that grin that put me at ease, everything would work out, we just had to roll with it. "This is wrong, we can't leave him like this. Robin, let him out." Dick looked up at AL, he got the nod of approval. I gulped, we were about to get a new friend, I hoped.

The hydraulics realised on the door, and it opened with a hiss of steam. At first nothing happened, I watched him, we all watched him. Then I saw a his hand go in to a fist, Oh no, I thought. Superboy opened his eyes, "I don't like that look," I said. And what to you know, I was right. He launched across the room at AL, I dodged back as did Dick. Superboy landed on top of AL and punched him square in his face. Dick, KF and I ran towards them and we tried to pull Superboy back.

"Easy Supy!" KF said to him.

"We are trying to help you!" Dick told him. But he threw KF across the room.

I had an idea, "I don't wanna do this," I grabbed a batarang and shoved it in his face, the gas exploded in to his mouth and nose. He retreated backwards and fell in to a control panel.

Dick took out the electric gun, he shot two cables at Superboy's chest. "Robin no!" I shouted, but it was too late. Even as the electricity pulsed through is body, Superboy grabbed the cables and pulled, Dick flew towards him and he knocked him to the ground then stood on his chest. I gulped, he was going to crush him. I took my batons out and extended them, I ran towards him and he reacted as I thought, he went to grab me, so I went high. I flipped over his head and hit him hard straight in the back of the neck. I landed and side kicked him in the hip. He staggered sideways right in to AL's path. I put my hand out to Dick and pulled him to his feet.

"Thanks,"He coughed.

I smiled, "Hey, if anything happened to you Dad would kill me!" He smiled, but the colour drained from his face, and he fell to the ground, I grabbed him but he was out cold, his pulse was ok, it must have been the pressure from Superboy's foot. I ran to help AL but I misjudged the speed at which they were moving, suddenly my head hurt, Dad is gonna kill me, I thought. Then all went black.

* * *

"You wanted an audience with The Light?" A voice said.

The scientist coughed, "Yes, er, sorry to bother you, but we had a slight problem here. Four sidekicks; Aqualad, Kid Flash, Robin and Batgirl, breached security, they found and released the Weapon, the Superboy. Of course the clone is under our control and turned against his would be liberators. The three are contained and we don't believe The League knows that they are here. Em, what should I do with them?"

"Clone them, the clones will serve The Light, and only the light," The voice said.

"And what of the originals?"

"Dispose of them, leave no trace."

* * *

"Time runs short, you must wake up. WAKE UP!"

I gasped, "What? Huh?" I looked around, then remembered what happened, we had been captured. Great, I sighed. I looked to my right and left, Dick was on my right, while KF and AL we're to my left. Then I took a look at my surroundings. I was in a pod, much like the one that Superboy was in, this isn't good, I told myself. I popped a master key out of my glove and began to try and get loose.

"What? What do you want?" KF looked down at Superboy who just looked back with a blank stare, very creepy. "Quit starting you're creeping me out."

"Hey, KF, don't piss off the guy that can fry you with a look," Dick told him, he had a point.

"We only sought to help you," Aqualad said to him, trying to find reason.

But KF was still running his month, "We free you and you try to kill us, hows that for gratitude?"

"KF! Shut your mouth!" I snapped at him, "Stop!" He made a face at me.

"Thank you Batgirl, I believe that our new friend was not in control of his actions," AL said.

"Wha-Wh-What if I wasn't?" Superboy formed the sentence. I raised my eye brows.

"He can talk," KF said, I rolled my eyes, why KF why?

"Yes he can!" Superboy glared up at him.

"The geno-morphs taught you?" I asked gently, I saw his eyes soften when I looked at me, maybe I was less threatening then the boys.

"They taught me much, I can read, write, I know the names of things," He answered.

Dick tried the same approach as me, "But have you ever seen them, like seen the sun?"

"Images are implanted in my mind, I know what they look like, but no, I have never seen them." He answered again. My heart went out to him, it wasn't fair, I thought my life was hard, but I was living the life of Reilly compared to him.

I looked down at him, "Do you know who you are?" I wanted him to see the good, to see some form of hope.

"I am the Superboy, a geno-morph, cloned from the DNA of Superman. Created to replace him should be fall, to destroy him should he stray from The Light." Oh dear, I thought, no good, not good at all. The others seem to be thinking the same thing.

"To be like Superman, is, em an honour, but like Superman, you have a choice, you deserve a life of your own, beyond here, don't you see?" I asked.

I hit a nerve it seemed, "I live because of Cadmus! Cadmus is my home!"

Dick spoke, "Your home is a test tube, we can show you the sun, well it's probably past Midnight so we can show you the sun. We can introduce you to Superman." This seemed to hit accord with him, we were finally getting through, until the moment was killed.

"No they can't they'll be otherwise occupied, activate the cloning process," The guy in the white coat said, walking in with the woman we saw earlier and Guardian. "And get the weapon back in it's pod."

"Pass! The Batcave is already crowed enough!" I said.

"Hey how come he gets to call Supy an it?" KF said.

"Help us," AL said to him, but it fell on deaf ears. The geno-morph hopped on Superboys shoulder and took over his mind. I gulped, this was it. Superboy walked out of the room and the doors closed. The woman started typing on the computer. These arms came out of the bottom of my pod, I tried to jerk back but that was useless. It split in to four and then plunged themselves in to my chest, pulsing electricity in to my body, I screamed out in pain, it was unbearable, I needed to keep my wits, I needed to get out of here. I heard Dick yelling too, KF was squirming and so was AL. I felt it extract my blood, not good. Would this ever end? I pulled at my restraints, but nothing was going to give, if AL wasn't getting out, there was no way I was. I heard a noise, it was faint over the pain, but I managed to look up, the door was lifting out its hinges. It was Superboy! The electrical currents stopped, I could catch my breath. Dick caught my eye and gave me the 'are you ok look', I nodded. Superboy had already sent the scientist flying and the others flying.

"You gonna help us, or fry us?" KF asked.

Superboy squinted, "Well I don't have heat vision, so I guess help you."

I wiggled the master key and finally the cuff came loose, I dropped to the bottom of the pod and out. Dick landed seconds after me. I grinned at him, "Finally!" I rubbed my wrists, "Lucky Batman isn't here, he'd have our heads for taking so long."

"Seriously? That's what you two are worried about. The whole League will have our heads when they find out," KF shouted. I shook my head and hit the button releasing KF and Aqualad. They dropped to the floor.

"Ok, lets go," AL said and started to run towards the exit.

"You lot won't make it out of here, I'll make sure of that," The scientist yelled.

I stopped beside Dick, he took a birdarang out of his belt and I grabbed a batarang. Dick tutted, "That guy isn't whelmed, not whelmed at all." I grinned and threw the batarang back at the DNA pods, no one was cloning me, and there is no more room in the world for another Dick Grayson!

"What is with you and this 'whelmed' thing?" KF asked.

I laughed as we ran, "It goes way back KF!" The room exploded behind us as we ran.

"We are still 42 levels below ground, but if we can make the elevator," AL told us as we ran.

"Whoa! Hit the brakes!" I shouted, as giant geno-morphs came around the corner. Behind us the cat-type ones were coming out of the walls. Superboy leapt at the giants and knocked them to the ground, he was wild, untrained, a total animal. We got to the other side of the giants and waited.

"Superboy!" AL shouted, "The goal is to escape, not to bury ourselves!"

We jumped in the shaft of the lift, Dick and I shot our cables up to was surface. KF hung on to my waist, "Hey beautiful," He grinned up at me, I rolled my eyes. AL grabbed Robin, and we began our accent. Superboy went to flt after us, but he stopped and began to fall, he couldn't fly! I reached out and grabbed him, making him hold on to my line.

"Why can't I fly?" He said quietly.

"It looks like you can still jump tall building in a single bound, so that's cool!" KF said to him from above.

"Guy! Out! Now!" Dick shouted, the lift was coming down towards us. AL kicked the door in and we leapt across, I looked up, we were only on sub level 15! Geno-morphs were already running towards us.

"Move!" I said, we all ran to the left down the corridor.

"Go left!" Superboy shouted, we went left, "Go right!" We ran right. But it was a a dead end.

KF was there first, "Great! Were are we meant to go?"

Dick stopped beside me, "This is perfect, in to the vent!" We all leapt in and started to crawl, I heard Dick take out his computer shield and began to hack. We dropped out of the vent, it was clear no one was there.

"I hacked the motion sensors! We have a slight head start," Dick grinned. I pushed open the door next to us and saw the flight of stairs, excellent! I shot a line up threw the centre, Dick followed me. As we flew up I saw KF bowling over some geno-morphs. Superboy kicked the stairs and they collapsed from behind so no one could follow us. We arrived at sub-level 1, we were so nearly there! KF ran out, the door were closing, no! I ran after him, but who was I kidding there was no way I was going to get there before him. We all skidded to a halt, I had to jump out of the way as KF can flying back after running in to the door. AL and Superboy tried to pull the door, while me and Dick tried to hack the door, but it was no use! We ran in threw a door ad were surrounded by geno-morphs, I sighed, well there's no going back now. I felt something in my mind, I tried to fight but I couldn't I fell to the floor, all was black again.

I stirred, I didn't want to open my eyes, but I felt a hand on mine, I looked over, it was Dick's hand. We weren't in pods, we were right where we had fallen. Dick pulled me to my feet. I swayed a little, I held my arms. "You ok Batgirl?" He asked. I nodded, just fine. We turned our attention to what was going on. The geno-morphs hadn't attacked, what was going on?

"You go on, I'll deal with Desmond," Guardian said.

"I think not!" The crowd parted and there was Desmond, the scientist from earlier. "Project Blockbuster will give me the power to restore order to Cadmus." He took a test tube and drank it. Oh no, I thought. One thing you learn from the life me and Dick live is that any time someone talks something out of a test tube, shit is going to go down. And yeah look at that, I thought, I was right. He was writhing and his body was changing, his clothes ripped off him and then the really gross thing happened, he's skin started to fall off and was replaced by a greying sort of covering. He stood up and roared, now shit was getting serious.

Guardian went first but he was thrown across the room, then Superboy launched his attack. The were going at it like a hammer and thongs, punch after punch and knock after knock. But Superboy never gave up. The grey thing launched in to the air at him and sent him flying threw the ceiling.

I looked up, "Perfect, that's one way to get back to the surface!" Dick laughed. I shot a cord and KF hung on, Dick and AL followed up. We landed on ground level and had to move pretty quickly as Superboy came flying towards us threw no fault of his own. We ran back to him and stood together. This was it, we needed to fight as one, as a team. KF ran and slid behind the creature, Superboy and AL punched him making him trip backwards over KF. Dick and I leaped in the air and threw batarangs and birdarangs at him deflecting him towards Superboy. The creature pickeed up Superboy and hurled him in to one of the columns that was around the room. I had an idea. I pulled up the plans of the room and called Dick over. He knew what I wanted to do and passed the message on to AL and KF. We needed to get him to damage all the columns to make the ceiling unstable.

KF punched the creature, "Hey! Got your nose!" He shouted at it. "Come and get me you incredible bulk!"

I threw a batarang at the columns to make sure they would be weakened, while AL and Superboy weakened the rest. Dick drew an X on the ground and AL spread water over it. I saw KF run towards it but he turned and began to surf across the room, pretty cool, I thought, but now, the bigger they are the harder they fall. The creature ran after KF and slipped landing in the water.

"Aqualad! Now!" I shouted. AL pulsed electricity threw the water, shocking the creature. The batarangs began to charge, "Run!" I yelled. The building collapsed and Superboy jumped on me and Dick covering us from the debris. Once the dust had settled we emerged from the rubble. I pulled myself to my feet and looked up.

Dick and KF stood too, "We did it!" Dick said, he and KF high fived and I could hear their rib cracking.

I touched Superboy's shoulder, "See the moon." I pointed smiling up at him. Then my smile vanished, The League was here.

"And Superman," KF said, sounding pretty pleased with himself. I on the other hand was not looking forward to hearing what my Dad was going to say to us. It wasn't just Superman and Dad, it was the entire League, I mean everyone!

Dad landed with Aquaman and a few others and walked over to join Superman. I stood beside Dick, if he was there maybe Dad would go easy, wishful thinking.

Superboy walked over to Superman, he lifted his torn shirt to show the 'S' on it. Superman looked shocked.

"Is that what I think it is?' Dad said.

KF mumbled, "He doesn't like being called an It!"

"I'm Superman's clone," He said to everyone.

"Start talking," Dad commanded.

About an hour later, the Green Lantern took the creature, named Blockbuster, off to be secured. We all stood in a group in silence as the adults debated. I was tired, I needed food, my body was so sore, a warm bath would be nice too, I smiled at the thought. Superman walked over to us, he looked at Superboy, "We will figure something out, the League I mean, for now I better make sure that get Blockbuster squared away." And without saying goodbye he took off in to the night's sky. I felt sorry for Superboy, it wasn't fair on him at all.

My Dad's voice broke the silence, "Cadmus will be investigated, all 52 levels. But lets make one thing clear…"

"You should have called!" Flash butted in.

"End results aside, we are not happy. You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders, and endangered lives. You will not be doing this again," He stared coldly at us.

Aqualad stepped forward, "I am sorry, but we will." I nodded and stood tall, even though my costume was torn, I probably had a cracked rib at least, we did good work here and I was not letting Dad win.

"Aqualad, stand down," Aquaman commanded.

"Apologies my King, but no. We did good work here tonight, the work you trained us to do, together, on our own, we forged something powerful, important." Aqualad told him. I nodded, which got me a look from Dad, but I didn't care, AL was right.

"If this was about your treatment at the Hall," Flash said, "The four of you…"

"The five of us," I corrected, "And it's not. Batman we're ready to use what you taught us. Or why teach us at all?"

"Why let them tell us what to do? Either get with it, or get out of the way," Superboy challenged. Well all nodded and turned to face the adults. Dad narrowed his eyes, a decision had been made.

* * *

"This cave was the original home of the League, we are calling it in to service again," Dad stood in his uniform. Dick and I were in normal street clothes, but for bid us from telling the other who we were, so we had to wear tinted glasses. Which I thought was a bit ridiculous. "Since you five are determined to stay together and fight the good fight, you'll do it on League terms, Red Tornado volunteered to live here and be you supervisor, Black Canary is in charge of training and I will deploy you on missions."

"Real missions?" I asked.

"Yes, but covert missions," Dad said.

"The League will handle the obvious ones, theres a reason why we have these targets on our chests," The Flash said.

"But Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly," Aquaman said.

"The six of you will be that team," Dad said.

"Cool! Wait, six?" Dick looked confused.

"This is the Martian Manhunter's niece, Ms Martian," Dad nodded towards the newcomers.

"Hi," She said waving a hand. I grinned and ran over and hugged her. "Oh!" She exclaimed.

"Sorry! I am just so happy there is another girl on the team, I don't think I could handle it being an all boys club!" I smiled. She was pretty, a little taller than me, with red hair, and well she's martian so she had green skin. The boys joined us and stood beside us. Dick put his arm around me and grinned at the group. Aqualad looked at us and smiled back.

"Today is the day," He said.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: Hi all, we have skipped forward and based this episode on "Failsafe", enjoy! I want to try and get to season 2 as that's my favourite one! **

* * *

The spaceship came in to view, it was huge. I gulped, but I knew it was ok, don't ask me why, but I wasn't panicked about it. The Green Lanterns went out first, then my Dad, Batman, in the Batplane. I watched him guide the plane in to position behind the Green Lanterns. He deployed the camera-seners units to observe the spaceship and try to find out it intentions.

"Attention, you have entered the boundaries of Earth, disengaged all weapons and engines, this is your final warning." I heard one of the Green Lanterns say to the ship. I edged a little closer to Dick, he looked down at me and squeezed my hand, I grinned back, everything was going to be fine. But I looked at the monitor, there was a flash of light and the Green Lanterns disappeared. I gulped, but there was no emotional reaction, strange I thought.

I saw Dad move the Batplane in to position, "Code Red, full defensive deploy." Dad said over the com-link. He opened the hanger door, Superman, Captain Marvel, Captain Atom, and Martian Manhuner took flight towards the ship. But like the Green Lanterns they were blasted too and disappeared. I looked around at the others, there was no emotional reaction on anyones face, and well I just felt like it was apart of the mission. Dad flew the Batplane away and the beam that had got everyone else took him too, he vanished. I looked up, there was an incoming transmission, it was Zatara, "Tornado, did you?"

Red Tornado nodded, "Yes, Zatara we saw, these methods have failed, start all extraterrestrial measures."

Zatara nodded, "Right away, see you in the field." He disappeared

Red turned to us, and by us I mean, Robin or Dick, Me Batgirl, Aqualad, Superboy, Miss Maritan, Artemis and Kid Flash. "I must join the League, we will protect the Planet at all costs, but should we fail the responsibly will fall to you."

Aqualad walked forward, "We stand ready."

Hours past, and we waited and waited in Mount Justice. The monitor told us that Central City was lost, Tie Pai was lost, along with Zatara, Flash, Black Canary, Hawkman, Hawkwoman and Green Arrow, all gone. A ship landed in SmallVille, Red Tornado came over the com-link, "Red Tornado to Mount Justice, I fear that I am the only one left of the League….."

Dick tried to establish the link, but there was nothing, "RT?"

"We are Earth's heroes now," Aqualad told us. I nodded, it was all on us now.

"So what are we waiting for, a theme song?" Conor asked, I rolled my eyes, ever the Superboy.

Aqualad looked at him, "No we need a strategy. Earth's weapons are ineffective as has been made tragically clear by our fallen heroes. So a direct attack will not succeed.

I brought up some specs on my gauntlet and then projected what I had, it was a huge globe, "So here is where the attacks are happening now."

Conor walked forward, "Did this one get lost?" He pointed to a red dot just inside the Arctic Circle.

"That's Superman's Fortress of Solitude," Dick exclaimed, I elbowed him, I doubted Conor had any idea.

Conor looked shocked, I was right, "Superman has a Fortress of Solitude?" He asked.

I nodded, "It's power source must have attracted the aliens attention, at least enough to send a scout ship to investigate."

"Must be some fortress," He said walking away.

M'gann touched his arm, "Conor?"

"It's ok," He shrugged, "Theres a lot about Superman I'll never know." I could hear the annoyed tone in his voice, he wasn't happy, but when was he?

Aqualad dismissed his comment, "We shall target this mothership."

KF nodded, "Yeah break it down, it those ugly Aliens where it hurts," He punched his hand, I shook my head, Wally, Wally, always letting our mouth run away with you.

Artemis hit him, "Martian and Kryptonian in the house." Wally grimaced, and gave them a sympathetic look.

* * *

I pulled on my white cowl and gloves. I checked my belt, batarangs check, batons check, good everything was there. M'gann guided the Bio-ship in to positions, the first team went and dropped on to the snow, I gave Dick a nod as he ran for cover, he grinned back at me. I stood ready to go with the second team, me, Artemis and M'gann. The hanger door opened and I stepped out on to the snow. I ran with Artemis to cover and we waited for M'gann to make the first move. She flew up totally invisible, unless you looked for that wave of air that didn't seem natural, then that's when you knew where she was. The Alien drone was there guarding Superman's Fortress. I put my back against a rock and took out my baton lengthening it to about the height of my own body, Artemis drew her bow and cocked an arrow on the string. We watched; M'gann flew towards the ship and pulled the wing off the drone so it fell to the ground.

"Communications disabled," M'gann said to us all threw the psychic link she created with us all. It was so helpful to have on missions, it meant that we didn't have to talk out loud to one another.

Artemis shot and arrow covering over it's visuals and sealing it, "ET's are sealed inside."

I leapt into action. It fired a beam at me, I flipped up out of the way, landing on a rock then springing on to the back of the drone. I had to act quickly, I stuck a batarang into the barrel and got the hell outta there before it fried the gun. I landed on the snow just as the rest of them team came in to view.

AL got on to the ship with Dick, "We need to act fast, I don't think that the electrical current will keep it off line for long," Dick said and began to hack, he found the week points, M'gann blasted threw them and Conor leaped up to pulled it off. But as Conor pulled I noticed something, two charges where behind him, they were going to zap him too.

"Conor!" I shouted, but a blur of white rushed past me, it was Wolf. He jumped towards the charge and pushed Conor out of the way, taking the hit, he was evaporated.

"Wolf," I breathed.

Dick's voice came into my head, "There was no indication of feed back, I'm sorry Conor."

"i can't do anything for him now," Conor's voice rang clear now, "Let's go." He got back on to the drone and pulled off the gun. M'gann and Conor attached it to the Bio-Ship to get the read outs and attached it to the ship.

"Re-routing all systems in to the ships Bio-metrics, it should take a few minutes and we are going to have to come out of de-camouflage the ship," M'gann told us.

I heard something in the sky and looked up, "This is not good, guys look whats coming!" Two more drones flew down.

Aqualad took charge, "Miss Martian open fire!"

"Can't," She answered, "Weapons systems are off line to incorporate the new canon, and its not fully integrated yet either."

Artemis looked at me and nodded, we got this. I stood beside her and opened the shield on one of my batons, Artemis cocked three arrows, "Don't worry we got this covered. Get inside we got this." I threw four batarangs watching them imbed themselves into the hauls of the drones, I began to run back.

"Artemis come on!" I shouted, she let the three arrows fly and ran after me. We were almost at the Bio-Ship when it happened.

M'gann shouted, "Artemis behind you!" The beam shot out from one of the drones. It enveloped Artemis and she vanished before my eyes, I felt a rope wrapped around my waist and I was pulled towards the Bio-Ship, I fell at Dick's feet, he pulled me up. I stood up, and heard M'gann scream, suddenly everything changed. My emotions came to the front, they had been absent all day. I froze, Dad, oh my god, Dad! He was gone, he was blown to pieces, right before my eyes, now Artemis. Tears welled up in my eyes. I looked over at Dick, he looked equally shocked, the whole team did. Aqulad leapt forward and sent ice flying towards the drone ship, it blew in to pieces.

Wally was at the front of the group by Aqualad, "They're dead! Every signal Alien, if its the last thing I do!" He growled.

* * *

The Bio-Ship was quiet, so quiet. I sat down beside Dick, tears rolled down my cheeks in a steady flow, how could this be happening, four years ago it was my Mom, now my Dad, Bruce Wayne, the man that took me in, even if he didn't show it, he loved me, I knew he did. Now it was just us, our Team. Everything was gone. Wally looked angry, so angry, he hit the control panel in front of him. M'gann like me was crying, her cheeks glowing with tears.

Aqualad spoke, "There will be time to morn later. We have a job to do; defend the Earth! And ensure that everyone's sacrifice was not in vain."

M'gann spoke, "To the Cave?"

"No to the Hall of Justice The human race must know that there are still heroes defending them,." AL said. "There is still hope."

As we flew in to DC you could see the smoke before anything else. The city was in ruins, the Washington Monument was in half, Capital Hill was almost destroyed. The smell of the smoke filled my nose as we landed. I unstrapped myself from the seat and then balked slightly. Dick gave me a look, "You alright?"

I gulped, "Yeah," I smile faintly. It was a total lie and I knew he was hurting too but he just didn't say. I took a breath, get a grip Alex, I told myself, the world is depending on you.

I was the last to walk out, I heard the cheering of the crowds that were there. Soldiers stood there armed to the teeth, tanks flanking them. "See I told you it was Superman!" One of them said, pointing to Conor.

"Yeah well where's the cape?" The other asked.

Conor turned to them, "I'm not Superman."

A man walked over to them, and by the look of him he was a general. "I don't care who you are son, and right now, i don't' care. You wear the "S" and you got the job done."

"I'm not Superman," He repeated.

"Tell that to the enemy," The General said to him.

AL walked over to the General, "General Ray Elling, US Air Force."

AL bowed his head, "Aqualad, Justice League, we'll help you salvage as many as the Alien cannons as possible, then we start taking back what is ours!"

The Hall of Justice was in ruins. Walls had been blown, windows smashed, and the statues of the founding members all had their head removed.

"They're really gone," Dick said quietly. I nodded, we had both lost parents, Dick saw my Dad as a father figure and I could see he was crushed, I took his hand and squeezed it, we were all going to get through this. I saw M'gann float over to the ruined statue of her uncle, she knelt down and cried. But then she jumped back and levitated the statue. I gasped, under the ruins was J'onn, Martian Manhunter.

"Uncle J'onn!" M'gann exclaimed.

But AL jumped in front of her, "Check his mind," He said through the physic link.

"It's him, he's real and he's alive!" She sounded so excited.

"But we saw you get disintegrated. You and Superman, and everyone else!" Conor questioned, the moment did come back up in to my mind.

J'onn got to his feet with M'gann's help, "Yes I remember, but I cannont remember how I survived, or how I arrived here."

"Maybe you were density shifting and the beam past right through you?" M'gann offered.

"Scrambling your brains along the way!" Dick said excitedly, I nodded in agreement, it had to be true.

"My mind is clouded, I feel that I had something important to tell you," J'onn said putting his hand to his head.

Wally looked up suddenly and hit his hand off his head, "Hello Wally!" He ran out to the Bio-Ship, Dick and I followed him outside, I opened the computer on my gauntlet, Wally walked up behind me, "See I knew it! It's giving off Zeta beams, the stuff that powers our Zeta Tubes, this thing doesn't disintegrate, it teleports." I felt Wally hug me from behind. My heart lifted, so Dad wasn't gone, he was on that MotherShip. Before we had time to head back to the Hall, more drone ships arrived, they fired beams down upon us.

"We are coming to you," Aqualad said through the psychic link.

"Negative," Dick answered, "We can't win this, get Miss Martian to camo the Bio-Ship," But it was too late, the Alien's blew it up, it was gone. "Fall back!" Dick commanded. I ran towards the Hall and sprinted in the door. M'gann and J'onn were on the floor, the shock of the Bio-Ship must have knocked them.

The General was in ahead of us, "We're trapped," He said.

But Aqualad opened the way to the Zeta Tube, "Manhunter, can you get permission for the soldiers? We can Zeta to the cave."

J'onn nodded, "But I can only do it one at a time."

AL nodded, "Send the soldiers first."

"Belay that!" The General commanded, "You seven are assets we cannot afford to loose."

J'onn nodded, then turned to the computer, "Override, Martian Manhunter 07."

M'gann stepped forward then, and the computer read out, "Miss Martian B05."

I hesitated, Dick put his hand on my lower back, "Go on," He said in my ear. But I dug my heels in.

I turned to him, "If you don't come right through that Zeta Tube after me, I'll hunt you down." He grinned. I walked forward, "Recognised Batgirl B04." I was in the Cave before I could blink, I heard the next person coming through and it was Dick. I ran over to him and hugged him. He hugged me close, I smiled into his chest, I remembered back to the first night I met him, on that rain covered fire escape in the dark, he was the only light to me that night, and now he was the same, my comfort, my best friend. I broke away and looked up at him, "You ok?" I asked.

He gave me that cheeky grin, "I'm still standing." M'gann was a few feet away. I walked over to her and place and hand on her shoulder, she pulled me in to a hug and began to cry.

I had to tap her on the back, "M'gann, as much as I feel for you right now, I can't actually breath."

"Oh! Sorry!" She broke away from me, her red hair falling across her tear stained face, I smiled, I must look the same.

Suddenly KF appeared breathless, and then J'onn came through. I looked at him, but the Martian shook his head, Aqualad was gone.

Dick took over, even though he was young he was a natural leader, "Our next mission is clear, if we believe that the Aliens have been teleporting their victims, then the only reasonable detention facility is here," He brought up the plans of the mothership, "Their Mothership, on top of what used to be Smallville, ring any bells?" He turned to J'onn.

The Martian was sitting down behind us, "No, I'm sorry."

"Superboy, you'll create a distraction," Dick told him.

"No!" M'gann said to him, gave her a pleading look, I knew her feelings for Conor, but this had to be put aside. "He's offering you as a sacrifice! Aqualad would never do that!"

I felt my blood boil, "Don't you say anything like that to Robin! We are all against the wall here, we have to pool together and make things work! Aqualad is gone, either dead or on that shuttle, so we need to get on it."

Dick looked at me then back to M'gann, "Batgirl is right, Aqualad would sacrifice himself, a mistake that just cost us our leader. Superboy is the most likely to be perceived as a threat, motivating the aliens to deploy."

"Worst case he's teleported inside and we set him free along with Artemis and the others." Wally said. I nodded. We all got ready getting new weapons and arming ourselves, back up had arrived in the forms of Red Arrow, Zatana and Rocket. I looked around, I had my utility belt, but my batons were shattered, I needed something new. I searched the armoury, I found a pair of swords, they were long and wide yet light, the handles could be connected together so they could be used as a double sword. I attached them together and flowered them in a circle, spinning them around my body until they were a blur of metal. I smiled, I'd found a weapon.

* * *

I stood by Dick on a rock looking over the Mothership, it was huge. I when I say huge I mean it. Smoke billowed out of the bottom of the engines as they stayed at rest, the main part of it towered in to the sky with different turrets and spires jutting off into different parts of the sky. It looks so wrong I thought, but Dad is in there, we have to be brave, we have to do this, what would Dad do if I was in there. I smiled faintly remembering back to when I got captured by The Riddler on one of my first missions out, I got separated from Dick and one of The Riddlers goons had me. I remember hearing a deafening crash and Dad came down through the roof with Dick at his side, Dad was like a man possessed. He fought and moved in a blur, cutting down everything in his path to get to me, I swore I could see his eyes burning in anger behind his cowl. Once we got back to the Batcave and the dust had settled slightly he enveloped me in a hug, I knew at that moment that he would never let me down, he would always be there. But I failed him, I wasn't there for him, and now he was in that ship chained up or god knows what else. "I'm coming Dad," I murmured, "I'm coming to get you."

M'gann walked behind us, "Stick close to J'onn, he's still…." Dick said to her, M'gann nodded. "Ok first team, go," He commanded. M'gann and J'onn took flight and went in to stealth mode. We waited.

"Ok in position," M'gann's voice came in to all our heads, "And be careful Conor, I love you." She added. I grinned up at Conor and nudged him, he smiled back and leaped in to the air. He began destroying the outside of the ship, drawing attention to himself. He pulled a canon off the side of the ship and began firing it back, I saw small crafts deploying for Conor, I gulped, it had begun.

"Now or never," Conor said into our minds. Wally grabbed Dick and I hung on to a cord I attached to his belt, he took off at speed holding Dick while I surfed behind him on a board. But we had to clear a ravine, KF and Dick shot over, I leapt and flipped, shooting a cord on to the ship and sailing through the air. I landed and rolled, then took off after KF and Dick. We hid behind a wall and then ran to the next, I jumped when I felt someone touch my shoulder, but I realised that it was M'gann, she and J'onn had arrived beside us. We kept running to the heart of the Mothership, but M'gann collapsed. I skidded to a halt, "What is it?" I asked her through the physic link.

"No," She replied, "He's gone."

My eyes widened, Conor was gone too. I knelt beside her, "Don't worry well find him when we find Batman and the others."

"No," J'onn said, his voice booming in our minds, "My mind is clearer now, disintegration means exactly that. There is no detention facility, no prisoners to rescue. Our mission holds no purpose."

"No, your wrong!" Wally said to him, grabbing his cloak, "Zeta radiation proves that Artemis is alive. She's…!"

Dick stepped forward and grabbed him pulling him down to his level, "Stop it KF! I've been scanning for league and team signals since we got inside and there are not here. Artemis is gone, Batman is gone," He looked at me.

I exhaled, he was gone, really gone, but something inside me told me to dig deep, this wasn't over, "Our mission still had purpose, we have to destroy this Mothership." Dick looked at me and gave me a faint smile and nodded. KF nodded too, and M'gann got to her feet. We turned down a corridor and Dick walked beside me, he took my hand for a second and squeezed it, he was there for me, we would stand together. We ran through a door and we found ourselves in the main hub of the Mothership. Before my eyes was a large ball of light contained in a spiders web of metal and machines.

Dick scanned it, "This is the power core, blow this and the whole Mothership blows." We didn't need a second invitation, we leapt over the barrier to the floor below. Dick landed in front of me, he slipped on landing, that was so unlike him, but then I saw why, some hidden force was pulling him towards the core, he couldn't find grip. "Robin! Robin! NO!" I shouted, and threw myself after him. I grabbed his hand, "Please Dick," I whispered, "Hang on!" I felt KF grab my foot.

Dick looked in to my eyes, "Let go." He said. I shook my head fighting back the tears. He reached in to his belt and shot a cord, it hooked on to something, I did the same. We hung there, me, Dick and Wally. I looked up and saw M'gann take out a drone. Then she lowered us gently on to the core's surface. I gulped and wiped the tears from my eyes. Get a grip Batgirl, I told myself. Dick took off his belt filled with explosives.

"You knew, you knew from the beginning," Wally said to him.

Dick set the timer on the bombs, "We have four minutes."

We ran towards the door, but they sealed themselves, "Perfect," I said. But I should have held my tongue, I heard drones walked behind us. They began to charge up and I dived behind a wall.

I looked at my watch and nudged Dick, he nodded, "Martian Manhunter, take Miss Martian and get out of here."

"No!" M'gann shouted. "We won't leave you!"

"That's an order," Dick snapped, "We'll follow as soon as we blow those doors." I watched as J'onn and M'gann took off and slipped threw the wall to the outside.

The clock was counting down, I looked at the two boys and nodded, we knew what was going to happen. We ran out to the drones, I threw a Batarang at one exploding its gun. Everything seemed to move slowly, time food still, I thought of all the things I'd never done, I'd never been in love, heck I'd never even kissed a boy, I would never have a wedding getting to wear a beautiful white dress and have Dad walk me down the aisle to my fiancee, or have a family of my own. But it was too late now, there was nothing I could do to change it, everything was different, everything was gone, including me. It was darkness.

I coughed, what? How could I cough, I was dead. At least, I thought I was dead. I tried to open my eyes, they flickered in to life and pulled the world in to focus. It was the Cave, I was in Mount Justice, I looked to my right, there was Dick in his civilian clothes, he was sweating and shaking, I realised that I was too and my face was wet with tears. I sat up properly and looked around, everyone was here! Wally was begin held by Captain Marvel, Conor was petting Wolf, Artemis was begin helped up by Red Tornado and Aqualad was getting himself to his feet.

"You're all alive!" M'gann's voice rang clear in the room.

I looked over at her, I was so confused, what happened? I thought we all died, we're meant to be dead. I looked over at Dick, he looked as confused as me. Dad was there helping J'onn to his feet. "What happened in there?" He asked.

J'onn rubbed his head, "The exercise, it all went wrong."

"Exercise?" Dick questioned.

"Try to remember," Dad pressed. "What you experienced was a training exercise, Manhunter psychically linked the seven of you within an artificial reality, you all knew this going in. What you didn't know was that it was a training for failure exercise. No matter what you did or accomplished, it was designed to fail. Still you were aware nothing was real, including the death of the entire Justice League.?" He looked over at me, I was still in shock.

J'onn said to me, "That is why you hardly grieved when Batman died," And then to Conor, "And same for you and Wolf. But all that changed when Artemis died." I looked over at her, her blond head was hung low looking at her feet, I saw Wally glance over at her. Although consciously Miss Martian knew that it was not real, her sub-conscious could not make that distinction, she forgot that it was only an exercise. And her sub-conicous took control making all of you forget too."

It all made sense, after Artemis died all the emotions about seeing Dad die came to the front of my mind, I forgot everything. My mouth was dry, I wanted to get sick, it was too much for me. I looked over at M'gann as did everyone else.

"I…. I'm so sorry!" She said to us.

Conor spoke up, "This isn't her fault! Why didn't you stop the exercise?"

"We tried. But M'gann had a death grip on the situation, even Artemis, who should have woken up upon her death was so convinced she was dead that she slipped in to a coma. I realised that I had to get control of M'gann's mind, so I entered the exercise. But when I got in there I was overwhelmed by all your collective emotions, there was too much noise to think clearly, to remember why I was there. The deaths of Aqualad and Superboy helped, but only when the Mothership exploded and Robin, Batgirl and Kid Flash were silenced, did my mind clear enough to remember my true purpose, to shock M'gann in to waking up, before your comas became permanent. My apologies, I had no idea that a training exercise could be so dangerous. So damaging."

I blinked and tried to get off the table, but my legs were still weak, I let them hang off the edge so the blood would drain back in to them. Captain Marvel went over and hugged M'gann as she cried. No one said a word, we couldn't what do you say to the people that you had fought side by side with to the end, then to find out it was all a lie? Dick climbed off his table and staggered slightly then walked over, "You wanna go home?" I nodded and followed him to the Zeta Tube.

* * *

I sat in my room, I couldn't move. We arrived home earlier in the Batcave and walked up the stairs. Alfred was waiting for us, he didn't even ask, he knew something was wrong by the look on our faces, or else Dad rang ahead. Alfred brought us dinner I couldn't eat it, my stomach just refused, it made me feel sick looking at it. I had dragged myself up the stairs and into a shower. I had hoped that having a shower would wash away some of the memories, but every time I closed eyes I saw flashes of images; my Dad being blown up, Artemis dying, wolf howling in pain, death every where, death and destruction. I sat on my bed staring in to space, my blanket wrapped around me. I heard a knock on the door, "Miss? Can I come in?" It was Alfred.

"Yeah," I whispered.

He opened the door and walked in, I must have looked like some sight by the look on his face, my black hair hanging wet down around my face, my dark eyes staring in to space.

"It is rather cold in her Miss Alexandra, shall I light the fire?" Alfred asked, I nodded. He put logs in to the hearth and the fire roared in to life, bathing the room in a warm orange glow. Alfred walked over and sat on the edge of my bed, "Are you alright? Master Bruce told me what happened, he is most concerned for you."

I looked up at Alfred, I could see he cared, but who I really wanted there instead of him was Dad, but he wasn't here. I just nodded, "I'll be ok Alfred, thanks, I think I'm going to go to bed." He patted my knee and left the room, I was grateful. I pulled the covers over my head and tried to sleep, listening to the crackling of the fire. But I just couldn't sleep, it was too hard. I got out of bed and patted across the room, I opened by door slowly and looked down the hall, there was no one there. I went down the corridor and opened the door in to Dick's room.

"Dick? Are you asleep?" I whispered.

"No," was the immediate answer.

"I can't sleep either, I just keep seeing things," I said quietly.

Dick sat up in bed, his black hair all over the place, "You wanna stay in here?" I nodded, I needed someone. I padded across the room to his bed, it was by the far wall, I saw that Alfred had lit the fire in his room too. On the walls hung posters of athletes and one portrait of his parents, Mary and John. Dick lifted the duvet and I climbed in. He was in his boxers and a t-shirt, I felt a little embarrassed, I'm a 14 year old girl and I have to get in to bed with my 14 year old best friend. But when I was a kid I used to crawl in to Mom's bed if I had a bad dream and she would make it ok, but she wasn't here anymore and Bruce wasn't exactly the cuddly type. The covers were warm and soft and I sank in to the bed.

"Thanks," I whispered to him.

He look at me from the other side of the bed and gave a small smile, "I'm glad you're here Alex.". I smiled back, it was very unlike Dick to be that serious but I appreciated it. I rolled over in the sheets and exhaled, it was the first time I relaxed since everything happened. I closed my eyes and fell asleep listening to Dick's breathing.


	5. Chapter 5

**Authors Note: Hi all, this episode had elements of "Disordered' and a small scene from "Homefront". It is just a tie over chapter so I can go on with the next two that I am doing in the first season. **

* * *

A beam of sunlight came through the crack of the curtains and shone in my face, I groaned and rolled over coming face to face with Dick, I jumped back and fell straight out of the bed, landing with a heavy thud on the floor. I sat there rubbing my back and Dick peered over the edge of the bed and looked down at me, his black hair and mess and his blue eyes all sleepy. "You ok?' He mumbled and yawned.

"Yeah, I think so," I said and grabbed the bed pulling myself to my feet. I sat down and Dick sat up, I looked over at him my face turning red, "Eh, I'm sorry about coming in here last night, I just didn't know what else to do, I mean I could hardly go to Dad."

Dick nodded, "It's ok, what happened to us last night isn't what we're trained for, heck I'm still shook about it, any time I close my eyes I see what happened. I see Bruce dying, Artemis, and then when you, me and Wally were in the Mothership…" He stopped speaking, it was too much for him, even just hearing him speak was bringing the tears back for me. I put my hand on his and squeezed it. He looked in to my eyes, I was here for him and he was for me too, my heart fluttered slightly. A sharp knock on the door broke the moment.

"Master Richard? Are you awake?" It was Alfred, he opened the door and came in. "Oh good you are, and Miss Alexandra too, very good. Well breakfast is on the table."

We trudged down the stairs to the dining room, I wasn't hungry again, I don't think I could ever look at food after last night. Dick seemed to be the same, he just toyed with his cereal. I heard familiar foot steps on the wooden floors, Dad was up too.

"Aren't you two going to eat something?" He asked walking in to the dining room and sitting down at the head of the table. We didn't answer, Dad looked from one of us to the other, he didn't press the matter. I glanced over at him, he was in a suit, probably going in to Gotham for a meeting. "I'll be back later you two. And when your finished here Black Canary wants to see you in Mount Justice to make your way over to the Cave."

I gulped, "But Dad, we…"

"It isn't for training or a mission, she wants to see you all, so go over in your civilian clothes if that would make you feel better," He touched my arm and gave it a quick squeeze before getting up and leaving the room.

We headed down to the Batcave after breakfast to take the Zeta Tube to the Cave. I may as well have walked in to a graveyard, it would have been more cheerful. We found everyone in the kitchen, Dick and I slumped on the couch. M'gann was stirring some baking ingredients in the kitchen, Wally and Kaldur were leaning against the counter and Artemis was sitting against the back of the couch. None of us spoke, what was there to say? Conor was in talking to Black Canary, she was the sort of go to for counselling for the Team, I liked her, she was warm and friendly and knew exactly what to say, but today I wasn't in the mood. We all jumped as a door slammed and Black Canary shouted "Conor!" Well, I thought, that happened later than I expected, I'm surprised he tolerated her that long. She walked in to the room, curling her blond hair back behind her ear, "Ah, Robin, Batgirl, glad you're here. Batgirl, do you want to come with me?" She turned back the way she came. I gulped, Dick patted my leg and I got up and followed Canary down the corridor.

She opened the door to an office, two arm chairs sat opposite each other, Canary took one and I sat in the other. I just curled my legs up on the chair and held them, I didn't really want to talk.

"Wow," She said, I looked up, "You are a lot like your father."

My eyes widened behind my dark glasses, "I don't know what you're talking about."

She leaned forward towards me, "It's ok Alex, I know that Bruce is Batman." I gave her a blank look, I wasn't going to spill. She sighed, "Your name is Alexandra Brice Wayne, your father is Bruce Wayne, billionaire and The Batman. Robin is Richard Grayson, he's parents were murdered five years ago, your Mother was murdered four years ago. Am I up to speed?" I sat back, she knew. I moved my jaw and then took off my dark glasses. She smiled, "Don't worry ok? You do look like him though, but are you going to be as stubborn?"

I gave her a small grin, "I don't know, but I just don't want to feel right now."

She nodded, "I understand, you think that if you looked back on what happened yesterday that it might happen again and happen for real?" I nodded, fighting back the tears, "It's ok to feel like that. What you and the Team went through was something that no one expected or could control."

"M'gann," I said, "M'gann and her powers."

"Do you blame her?" Canary asked.

I shook my head, "No she's one of my best friends. She just needs training, help to control it, I don't blame anyone, it was an accident and I know that, but I wish that it didn't happen." I sounded ridiculous, like a four year old child trying to explain why they were crying.

"So well me what you felt when you were in there, what impacted you the most?" She asked me gently.

That didn't need much thinking about, "Death, all the death. At first when we knew that it was all pretend nothing mattered, but then when all the emotions came through, it was hell. I could see Dad exploding in the Batplane over and over again. Then Artemis, Kaldur, Conor, Wally…." I stopped.

"What is it?" She asked me. "Or who was it? The only one you haven't named is Dick. Do you have feeling for him? "

I looked at my knees, did I have feelings for Dick? "I don't know, I don't, its just, any time I've needed someone he is right there with me, and when he almost died in the training exercise I could barely hold back the tears…" I trailed off.

"So you have a kind of feeling for him then?" She asked, I nodded, still not entirely sure. She smiled, "Well I think we have done a lot today, so off you go, ask Kaldur to come in next ok?" I stood up and put on my dark glasses again. "Oh and Alex, I'm always here if you need me."

I smiled at her, "Thanks Dinah," Her jaw dropped, "Hey Dad isn't the only one with access to the Batcave computers."

As I left I heard her mummer, "She's too like her father." I grinned.

* * *

Later that day when we'd all finished talking to Black Canary, Kaldur suggested that we head down to the beach and try and relax. I welcomed the idea. I'm no Atlantan but I love the water, I love how it holds you and how you can do whatever you want when you're in it, you're weightless. I pulled on my bikini and let the sun shine on my body, the heat felt good. Artemis and I ran down to the water and dived in, I laughed as Wally ran in after us but tripped and fell head first in to the sea. Dick and Conor walked down chatting, I glanced over at Dick. He was handsome, very handsome in fact, and he was kind too, but something brought me back to Earth pretty quickly.

"Batgirl! Heads up!" Wally shouted as a beach ball came flying at my head. I dodged it in the nick of time.

"Good save!" Dick grinned and dove in to the water.

The sun started to set as we left the beach and headed back to the Cave. M'gann made us dinner and for the first time in about two days I was happy to eat it, we all laughed and joked around the table. It was like we were getting back to normal again. I smiled to myself looking around, this was my family now, us all together. I was so happy that I had them.

We got home late that night, and went straight up to our rooms. I needed a shower badly, I still had sand in my hair from the beach. I turned the shower on and some music, music made things better. I dried myself off and pulled on my P.J's. I was just about to get in to bed when I heard a knock on the door, "Hey, it's me." Dick? I opened the door and let him.

"You ok?" I asked him.

"Yeah, just don't want to sleep just yet." He sat down on my desk chair and spun it, "What did you and Black Canary talk about?"

"Well she knows who we are first off, but its fine she won't tell, I know who she is, I did some digging." I grinned at him, "Otherwise we just talked about what happened, and how awful it was." I left out the fact that a little bit of it was about him. Dick went quiet, "You sure you're ok? We're all hurting," I sat on my bed.

He sighed, "Hurting? Try traumatised. I finally become leader of the Team and I wind up sending all my friends to their deaths. I know I did what I had to, but I hated it. When we started this team I was desperate to be in charge not anymore, and that's not even the worst of it." He hung his head low, "You can't tell Bruce. I always wanted, expected to grow up and become him, and the hero bit, I'm still all in, but that thing inside of him, the thing that drives him to sacrifice every thing for the sake of his mission. That's not me, I don't wanna be The Batman anymore…." He trailed off.

My heart went to him, I didn't know what to say for a second, "Dick, no one ever said that you have to be The Batman ever, not if you don't want it. Dad, Dad is a different type of person to you and me, he is driven there is no doubt about that, we are too, but there are some things that I will not sacrifice for the sake of some mission, friends and family being one of them. Don't blame yourself, the pre-programming of the training was so that no matter what we did it harder and harder, their was nothing you could have never done!" I walked over and knelt down in front of him, "You're a good leader Dick, people like you, they respect you, don't let this put you off doing it again." He looked down at me and smiled.

"Thanks Alex," He stood up and stretched, "Well bed time I think, sleep tight." He gave me a hug and left the room.

* * *

My alarm clock buzzed, god that sound, I groaned and shut it off. The sun streamed in the windows and I pulled the duvet covers off me. It was Monday, back to school and back to reality. After Mom died Bruce enrolled me in Gotham Academy, it was a private school, it wouldn't have been my thing but the teachers were nice, nicer than in Gotham North so I suppose it's ok. I was popular in school, but some times I wondered whether was it because my Dad was Bruce Wayne. Dick and I did hang around a lot with our friend Barbara Gordon, she was the Police Commissioners daughter. It was nice to have a 'normal' friend, not that I wasn't thankful for all my friends on the Team, but it was nice to have a friend that just saw me as 'Alex Wayne, good student, great friend'. I noticed someone new in the courtyard, I nudged Dick. We walked over to a girl with blonde hair. I stood one side and Dick stood the other, holding out his phone and taking an picture of the three of us.

"Hey!" The girl said.

"Trust me," Dick said, "We're gonna laugh about this someday."

"Have a good day Artemis!" I called to her cheerfully.

"Hey how do you know my name?" She shouted back after us.

We walked back over to Barbara, "What was that all about?" She asked.

"Just saying hi to the new girl," Dick grinned, I snorted with laughter. Poor Barbara she'd never get it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note: Sorry this took so long! Busy in College! Enjoy! **

* * *

Around two months had past since "The Training Exercise" accident. I was feeling a little better in myself and finally settling back in to the normal routine. We broke for Summer Vacation a couple of weeks back too. Dad decided to take me and Dick camping for a weekend, it was so nice to spend time with them and not as Batman, Robin and Batgirl. We hiked and biked cross country, I even convinced them to go horse riding with me, Dick was quite good, but I could see that Dad wasn't all that comfortable, which made me laugh because Dad was always so assured in himself with everything he did, but the lack of control he had with the horse seemed to unnerve him. Dick and I galloped threw the woods laughing and ducking under branches, the horses hooves thundering on the ground. Dad made a camp fire and we roasted s'mores and Dad told us stories, some true about before me and Dick came along, and some ghost stories, which I thought were based on fact. It was one of the best weekends of my life.

We got home on the Sunday evening and Alfred had a massive roast dinner waiting for us. I couldn't help but grin as we walked in to the dining room. Before we sat down I went over to Alfred and hugged him.

"Oh!" He said in surprise, "What do I owe the pleasure Miss?"

I grinned up at him, "Just for being you Alfred. Thanks for dinner." I took my seat opposite Dick and Dad took his seat too, what a perfect end to a perfect weekend.

I wandered down to the Batcave to see who was there, I saw Dick at the computer and he was studying a map of Europe. "Watch ya looking at?" I asked him.

He jumped, "Jeez you scared me!" I laughed and walked over to the computer. "Remember Haley's Circus?"

I nodded, "Of course, where you grew up."

"Well there have been some robberies in the cities they have been performing in on their European Tour, real high tech stuff." He sat back in the chair and ran his hands threw his hair.

"And you want to head over to Europe to find out what is going on?" I finished for him, he flicked his eyes up at me, "Dick you can't be serious, I know you care about Jack Haley, but what if you find out something that you are going to regret?"

"I have to take that chance Alex, if I don't and Jack is innocent in all this then he might loose the Circus." He looked stressed, I knew how much this circus meant to him.

"So what are you going to do?" I asked.

"I'm going to ask Bruce can I go and help him," He said.

I raised my eye brows, "Dad is not going to let you go to Europe on your own. I'll go with you, and we can get some of the others to go too."

Dick shook his head, "No you can't come, I'll ask M'gann, Conor and Artemis, but you can't come."

I was a little taken a back, "I'm going Dick."

"You can't you're the only one that knows my back story, I don't want you to question my motives," He stood up and walked to the other side of the the computer.

I followed him over and placed my hand on his shoulder, "That is the reason why I am going. What are friends for?" I felt his shoulder soften and he turned to face me. He gave me a faint smile, "I'm going ok?"

He nodded, "Yes, I know that there is no way I can stop you." I grinned and gave him a swift hug before running back to get my costume.

* * *

"Meine Damen ind Herren! Ladies and Gentlemen! Madame et Monsieur! Welcome to the Haley International Travelling Circus! Where the world of the centre ring is your oyster," Jack Haley the ring master and owner of the Circus. I stood nervously across from Artemis waiting to go on. I gripped my bow and then lifted my finger to flex the string. The smoke cleared from the centre ring to reveal Haley in his Ring Master costume, he looked right at home in the centre ring. "And these are our latest pearls; The Darning Dangers!" It was our cue! Dick and M'gann were on the trapeze, Dick originally wanted me up there with him, but I had to help Artemis with the bow and arrow act seeing as after her I was the most experienced in archery on the team, and Conor was throwing and juggling barrels as part of the act. Haley pointed to Dick, "Dan Danger," Dick waved and took the trapeze bar and swung out, "Dawn Danger", M'gann flew towards him on the trapeze, they let go and somersaulted in the air switching bars. "Diane Danger," Haley pointed to Artemis, her drew her bow, "Dana Danger," He pointed to me, I drew my bow too, "And Dean Danger," He introduced Conor, who was juggling the barrels. I looked up at Dick for the right cue, Artemis and I loosed the arrows from the bows and Conor threw two barrels in the air. Dick and M'gann soared threw the air from one bar to the next, the arrows flew by them, nearly getting them and they tucked through the barrels, grabbing the opposite bar and swinging away. "You'll never see another Trapeze act like this folks. All performed without a net."

I looked up. M'gann was hanging upside down ready to take Dick's hands when he let go of the bar. But I looked at the distance they were traveling at, it wasn't going to work. Dick by past M'gann's hands and began to fall. "No! I shouted through the psychic link, "Robin!" My blood went cold.

"Maintain cover!" He told us.

Conor picked up a barrel, "But saving your life's ok?" He threw the barrel skyward, Dick landed on it and he was catapulted back towards M'gann. I saw M'gann's eyes glow green as she used the telekineses to pull Dick to safety.

I heard Dick's voice echo in my head, "What did I just say?"

"The crowd couldn't see me use my telekineses from below. Besides I've been using it all night. I'm not the acrobat you are." M'gann answered landing on the platform beside him.

They waved at the crowd, "Yeah neither am I right now," Dick said, "I think I caught that 24 hour bug thats been going around the circus. But, the show must go on." He sighed. I could hear the exhaustion in his voice, he wasn't well at all, but I knew that no matter what I said to him, he would finish our set.

It was the longest fifteen minutes of my life. I was constantly worried about Dick, he never feel, I mean never. In all the time we trained together he never missed a beat. We stood in the centre ring together waving at the crowd. I took Dick's hand, it was clammy and damp, I squeezed it, just two more minutes I thought. "Give it up for the Daring Dangers!"

"I didn't think you'd make it through," I said to him.

He continued waving, the sweat pumping down his face, "Me neither, help me back stage," He sounded like he was in pain. I nodded and kept a hold of his hand as we walked off stage. He stumbled as we got in the door and I grabbed him and put his arms round my shoulder.

I sat him down on a chair, "Are you sure you're alright?" I asked out loud.

He nodded, "I'll be fine in a while, don't worry." He gave me a small smile.

"Haley whats the deal? Giving the top slot to those Danger kids? That's our slot," I looked over to see who was speaking, it was the two twins Carlo and his bother was talking to Haley.

"Was your slot, until you missed that show in Paris," Haley growled at him. I nudged Dick to listen in.

"Carlo was sick! He's better now. Plus those Dangers are a sham, they say that they are brothers and sisters, they don't even look alike," The brother protested.

Haley pushed past them, "Ah you just don't like the competition." Haley walked towards the props area and walked straight in to a guy in a suit. I narrowed my eyes, he does't fit in.

"Oh, for crying out loud! Not you again? We're in the middle of a show," Haley exclaimed when he saw the man.

The man crossed his arms, "Then we'll talk after, but we will talk. Another city last week, another tech firm robbed, another stop on your tour. If I prove your responsible I will shut you down." The suit threatened and jabbed a finger at Haley.

"I've got three minutes to gather props and get back out there," Haley told him cooly.

The suit spotted us and walked over, not good I thought.

"Faraday, Interpol. New act?" He pulled out his badge.

Dick nodded, "Yeah, just joined the tour."

"Probably clears you, but don't get too comfortable. Haley's going down for this." He turned and walked away. I saw Dick narrow his eyes, he was not letting this go.

We sat on the roof of a building opposite a tech firm. I shuddered slightly in the cold, but I was more concerned about Dick. After the performance he didn't stop, we all changed in to our costumes and headed out to the place that he had a lead from. He looked awful, his forehead damp with sweat, I had to keep an eye on him.

Conor's voice came in my head through the psychic link, "If Interpol are all over this then why are we here?"

"Because Batman said so. Why you got something better to do?" Dick snapped back at him.

I cut in and tried to defuse the situation, "How do we know that the thief is going to hit here? There are other targets?'

"And Faraday will have them covered. But I've analysed the tech already stolen and here is the most logical place," He rubbed his head and wiped his forehead.

"How are you feeling?" I asked him, giving him a sympathetic look.

"Losy actually, but I'll manage." He replied looking back at me and giving me a reassuring smile.

Conor suddenly piped up, "Contact! North east quadrant." I quickly looked over to see what Conor was talking about. I could see a figure of a man walked towards the fence. He sprung up on a telegraph pole and then flipped over the fence. "Well it looks like we know why Carlo missed the performance in Paris."

"Could be Carlo, could he his brother, keep an open mind," I told him. Dad always told us to never make assumptions, you needed all the facts.

"Move in," Dick ordered. We all followed down the building to inside the compound. "Did you see where he went?" He asked Conor.

Conor looked around at the buildings, and settled on the warehouse, "There," he pointed.

The warehouse was dark, I could just about pick out the figure of the man in the gloom, he had a crow bar and was jacking open a box, then took out a drive from a computer inside. I took my swords out from there sheaths on my back, I smiled as they gleamed in the gloomily light. Ever since our 'Training Exercise' incident I had taken the swords for my own, they felt right in my hands, it was like an extension of my arms.

Dick laughed and the man whipped around to see us; M'gann hovered above us, Conor looked like he was going to rip the warhorse apart, Artemis cocked an arrow on her bow, I raise my swords and stood beside Dick. "Caught red handed."

"Acrobatics aren't going to get you out of this one," Artemis said pulling the string. But the man had other ideas, he turned and lit a match that he had, spitting fire at us. But what we didn't see was that the building was also storing live ammo! I flipped and dodged out of the way of the blast. That was close, I thought. Below I saw Dick pulling M'gann to her feet.

"Oh no," I breathed sheathing the swords behind my back. I leapt down to them and helped Dick with M'gann.

Conor began to un after him, "Superboy!" I shouted, "Help Miss Martian!."

"You need to get her out," Dick told him, holding M'gann upright, she was fading fast.

"But he's getting away!" He protested.

"And helping Miss. M isn't important?" Dick asked. "The fire is killing her!"

Conor seemed to snap to his senses, he picked up M'gann and ran out leaving Dick, Artemis and I. "Batgirl, Artemis," Dick said, swaying, "Find the thief." He collapsed. We ran over, I gulped, panic rising in my throat, but I had to keep it together. Artemis took his other arm and lifted him up with me.

"Because he matters more that you Robin?" I asked him as we staggered out.

"You're still off your game pal, we're getting outta here," Artemis added.

The next night was show time again. We had gotten Dick into bed and he had fallen asleep straight away, I was in the bunk next to him so I kept and eye on him all night. In the morning he woke up as if nothing was wrong, he was totally better. It really was a 24 hour bug. We waited to go on and were warming up, I saw Jack Haley talking to Faraday, the rest of the team noticed.

"Another tech firm was hit last night," Faraday said.

Haley shrugged, "It was a coincidence."

"I don't believe in coincidences," Faraday told him.

"I don't care what you believe, my people are not responsible. I did a bed check last night and all were accounted for," Haley told him.

"Well," I said through the psychic link, "We certainly weren't. And if he's lying about us what else could he be covering?"

We walked back to a carriage compartment and sat down, we needed to regroup. Dick put in his gauntlet and brought up the computer.

Artemis piped up, her voice echoing in my head, "What if there are two thieves? The fire breather and one of the acrobats, dressed in identical clothes?"

"Maybe," Dick said slowly, "But here is the Madrid security footage, and Paris." I looked over and I saw someone bending bars and the other walking the electrical cable. So what ruled out Artemis's idea.

"The whole circus might be involved," Conor said, "And Haley could be the master mind."

Dick looked up, "You don't know that."

"It would explain his lies," M'gann said.

Dick stood up, he looked angry, "I told you to keep an open mind!" He stormed out. I looked after him, I need to follow him out. I stood to go but Artemis put her hand on my shoulder.

"Leave him Batgirl, somethings got him all up tight," Artemis told me.

"Trust me, I know whats going on," I shrugged her off and followed Dick. He was no where in the carriage, so I pulled on my jacket and ran outside. I looked left and right and saw him walking up towards the end of the train. I ran after him catching him in a matter of moments.

"Hey," I said touching his shoulder. He kept walking. "Dick. Talk to me."

He stopped, and turned to face me, "I'm sorry Alex, I don't want to take this out on you." The snow fell on his dark hair and his blue eyes glistened from behind the "Darning Dangers" mask, my heart gave that flutter again, I suppressed the feeling, get a grip Alex, I told myself. "It's just so weird being back here."

"Dick, I'd say its more then weird, you haven't been here since every thing happened," I pointed to a poster that was beside us. It was an old poster of "The Flying Graysons".

He hung his head, "I'm trying to be strong, but it's getting so hard, I don't' want my feelings for the Circus and for old Jack to cloud my judgement."

I stepped closer to him and took his hand, "I understand, but I'm here to help you, lean on me ok? I can lead the next operation if you want. Just don't be stressed, it doesn't suit you," I smiled.

He laughed, `"Easier said then done Alex. But thank you, I know I didn't want you here, but it is a relief." He looked in to my eyes, and those damn fluttery feelings came back again, I tried to shake them off but it was hard. He stepped closer to me again, we were almost face to face. I nearly wanted to hold my breath, he leaned down. Was this about to happen?

"Dan! Dana! Show time! Where are the others?" Haley called from down near the tents. We jumped backwards, my cheeks went red.

"Eh, we better get the others," Dick said and rubbed the back of his head. I nodded and followed after him trying to hide my red face.

The show was over and everyone was rushing backstage. Haley poked his head threw the curtain, "Pack it up, the train leaves for Geneva in two hours!" We lifted some of the baggage on to the train. I noticed a man walk over to M'gann, Conor and Artemis.

"Do you need some help?" He asked M'gann.

"No, I'm fine thanks, maybe the guys over there?" She pointed to the fire breather and the strong man. "A lot of them seem to have that 24 hour bug."

"Yeah its going around," He shrugged.

Haley walked over and hopped on the side of the train, "Everyone! On the train! Now!"

"Someone's in a hurry," I muttered.

The train pulled out of Bruges heading towards Geneva. It gathered speed and began to pace along the track, scenery flying past the window. But my attention was brought back to the carriage that we were sitting in. M'gann suddenly got sick, the same bug the Dick had, which was strange.

"You alright M'ga-Dawn?" Dick asked, "I hope you didn't catch it from me."

"I feel so silly. Who knew a Martian could be vulnerable to human sickness," She said, Conor sat beside her and pulled the blanket over her more to keep her warm.

"Eh, H.G Wells?" I offered.

"When did you first well sick?" Dick asked her.

M'gann thought for a minute, "Just after boarding the train. It came on suddenly."

"Same with me the other night. I remember Ray rubbed my head for good luck right before we went on," Dick said remembering back.

Conor looked shocked, "Ray? That roust about? He touched M'gann before we board. That guy must be a walking petri dish."

I made a face, "Yeah it is a possibility, but there could be something else…" I trailed off and made for the door. Dick followed me out.

I heard Conor mumble, "Does she always have to be cryptic?" I ran out to the corridor and found Jack Haley.

"Yeah you two! Excited for Geneva?" He asked us.

I nodded, "Yeah so excited! Hey Jack how long has Ray been on the tour?"

Jack thought for a second, "Eh, picked him up at the start of the European Tour, poor lads down with the same flu as the rest, he's all tucked up in bed I think. You need him for something?"

"No, not right now. He just has a costume I need when we get to Geneva. Thanks Jack." I gave him my best smile. The rest of the team came out of the cabin.

"We'll go check on him," Artemis offered, "Least we can do after all the help he's given us." I nodded at her as she and Conor left.

M'gann suddenly came out too, "You don't have to come you know? You should get some rest." Dick put his hand on her shoulder, trying to guide her back into the room.

"As a friend of mine once said, 'I'll manage'," She told him and walked after the other two. Myself and Dick waved at Jack and ran after the others to the storage carriages in the back, for some reason that's where Ray slept.

Artemis went first into the carriage, pushing the door open with force. I followed at the back of the group. It was very dark in the carriage, no real light source at all. All I could make out at first were chests containing costumes and props all packed away. As my eyes adjusted to the gloom I saw Artemis and Conor beside the bed, and what do you know, no Ray. I looked to my left and there was a large box, "Eh, does this Circus have an elephant I don't know about?"

Dick shook his head, "Not on foreign tours." I opened the box, empty, but there was ash on the inside.

"Eh guys?" Artemis said holding up a mask that looked like Ray.

Dick immediately gave the orders, "Spilt up! We have to find him."

I ran out of the room up towards the living area of the train. People poked their heads out as I ran by, I skidded to a halt. How was I to know who Ray was, he had M'gann's powers, he could be anyone. A noise caught my attention in one of the compartments. I opened the door and Jack was tied up on the ground. "My lord! Are you alright Jack?" I asked walking over and taking the gag off his mouth.

"Ray! That bastard! He's the one that's been robbing the tech firms, its his fault! He's gone!" Jack shouted struggling against his bonds. I turned and ran out to find the others, "Oi! Where are you going? Do I look like Houdini?"

"M'gann," I called threw the psychic link, there was silence, "Eh Dawn?" I said to the radio inside.

"Eh, Dana?" She questioned.

"I tried to reach you the other way," I told her.

"Yeah I'm still knocked out from what Ray did," She replied.

"Ok, Dan, Dane, Diane. We're chasing someone that has stolen Dawn's act if ya get me," I told him. I met up with Dick who had no luck finding Ray. I was starting to get annoyed, I mean we're on a train, where can he go?

Suddenly Conor's voice came threw the radio, "I got him, but he's exiting the dining car now. He's gone top side."

I smiled at Dick and offered him the window. He shook his head, "No, I insist, ladies first." He did a mocking bow. I rolled my eyes and opened the window pulling myself out into the cold air and swinging up on to the roof. Dick quickly followed and we looked ahead to see Conor and Ray on the next carriage. Ray tried to knock Conor off but he just rebounded.

"That won't work on me clown," Conor hissed.

"That's no clown," I pointed to Ray, "He's the parasite! A guy who once stole Superman's powers!"

The parasite spoke, "As if you kids are who you claim to be, please!" He through he's head back and turned it back to normal, this black, bald looking head.

"Stay out of his reach, he'll take your powers!" I told Conor and Dick. "That's what the 'flu' is!"

The parasite laughed, "I have been a bit of a greedy guts today! Chowed down on the skills of nearly every loser in this troop. But oh my! The best was Dawn Danger or whatever her real name is. Thought I munch on her trapeze skills, imagine my surprise when she tasted like Martian Manhunter! She made a lovely appetiser, but guess who I want for my main course!" As he was speaking the rest of the team found their way on to the roof, but the Parasite had other ideas, he puled Conor towards him. Conor was helpless in the fight and the Parasite grabbed him by the neck, absorbing his powers too. "Now thats the full bodied flavour of Kryptonian I love!"

"Everyone! Stay whelmed! Subdue, but keep your distance," Dick shouted over the noise of the train. I grinned at the use of his favourite word, but I took some batarangs ready to use. Artemis loosed some arrows at the Parasite, but he fried them with laser eyes. I threw my batarangs but to no avail.

The Parasite dropped Conor, "Well, I never thought I'd say this but I'm stuffed! Hate to eat and run." He took off into the sky trailing the box with the equipment in it after him. Dick leapt into the sky and on to the box to get at the Parasite. "Sorry, no hitch-hikers!" He back handed Dick. He fell towards the ground, but I realised that we were over a bridge, he was going to go straight off the edge. As he fell I shot my line at him so it wrapped around his wait. It pulled tightly, nearly taking me with it but M'gann had my back and pulled me back to her helping me haul Dick back to safety. I collapsed on the ground but looked over to see if Dick was ok, he got up slowly, I breathed a sigh of relief. M'gann rushed over to Conor.

"Are you ok?" She asked him helping him to his feet.

"I'm fine," He said getting up.

I helped Dick to his feet, he swayed a little. "But you're drained," He said to Conor. "That Parasite took more power than you have! Heat vision?"

"I have to genetic potential for it, must have been enough for him." Conor shrugged.

"Grr!" Dick said to no one in particular and headed back down into the train.

We changed out of our "Daring Dangers" costumes and back into our normal ones. It felt got to be back in my Batgirl costume, I rolled my shoulders and felt the familiar smell of it, it was as good as being home. We sat back in the compartment and waited to see what our next move would be.

"We aren't in a compete loss for something to do. I picked the Parasite's pocket!" Dick grinned and produced a flash drive. He plugged it into his gauntlet and hacked it easily. "Looks like Parasites working for Inter-Gang. Everything he's stolen they're all pieces of something. They're putting together a weapon that generates…. Black-holes?!" He finished.

"Oh come on, to build that you need a particle accelerator," Artemis said.

Dick looked at her, "Like the large Boson Collider in Geneva?"

I gasped, "The Circus's next stop! But now the Parasite can fly he's got a head start!"

M'gann hung her head, "Sorry," she mumbled.

"Not your fault. But this thing could wipe out entire cities," Dick said. "We need to hurry."

"Are we all fit to go?" I asked looking at everyone, they all nodded. So Geneva, here we come!

The building where the Boson Collider was was a huge domed building, set on a hill. As we approached I saw a guard on the ground, I knelt to take his pulse, it was alive just out cold. "Well, follow the trail of this destruction," I pointed ahead to the path of knocked out guards. We ran in and The Parasite already had the machines hooked up, they hummed and lit up the dark room. Dick motioned for us to spilt up, we needed to get ground covered. I hid up on a walk way looking down at the Parasite, my blood was boiling, I loathed him. He had hurt my team, my friends, taken their powers and abilities, we had to stop him. A noise suddenly sounded, I looked over, it was the beams starting up, their light filling the room as they charged up.

Dick's voice sounded in my head, "We need to take him down, or at least get him away from this building." But from the sound of the yell that came from Superboy. Conor jumped down towards the Parasite, but the creature had other ideas. He used M'gann's powers to pull Conor towards him, Conor flew towards him and punched him in the face sending him backwards. But The Parasite recovered quickly and send Conor soaring across the room on to his back. I winced, that's gotta hurt. The Parasite raised his hand, Conor was being pulled towards him, he gripped Conor's throat.

"Wow kid, not even Superman recharged his quickly," He smiled with glee, sapping Conor's powers again, then tossing him to the side like a rag doll. "Alright Dangers come on out, before this baby finishes warming up."

I drew my swords from the sheaths on my back, I smiled slightly as I heard the familiar steal on steal noise. But a noise from the BlackHole creator got my attention. It began to surge and a bolt was sent in to the sky, I gulped, not good. Dick gave me the nod, it was time.

M'gann went out first, she stood boldly out in the open, she hands on her hips, "So what have you got against Geneva anyways?"

The Parasite looked at her, "Never liked the food, but the menu keeps improving," He extended his hand outwards M'gann and pulled her towards him.

I shifted in my position, Dick touched my shoulder, "Easy Batgirl," I nodded to him, I just didn't want M'gann to get hurt. He moved in to his position at the computer.

M'gann rolled her eyes at The Parasite, "I'm just the appetiser remember?" She made her move, before The Parasite could grab her she dodged his grip and landed on the floor, "Well here's the main course!" She swiped her leg underneath him and he fell heavily to the floor.

Artemis's arrow came out of nowhere and shot him in the chest surrounding him with an expanding foam that hardens and contains, "Foam? You think that will old me?" His eyes begin so glow green and he hauled Artemis in to the air. She squirmed in his grasp, her bow dropped to the floor. My hands tensed around the swords, I wanted to go. Dick was still hacking away at the system.

The Parasite began to break free from the foam,"Combine Martian and Kryptonian powers here," He began to break out.

Dick spoke, "But do any of those powers break you out before I sabotage your death thingy?"

The Parasite bike totally free, "This one does"

No, I thought. I saw his eyes going red, he was going to laser blast Dick. I leapt out from my spot and I but my two sword blades together, "Not gonna happen creep," The lasers hit off the blades and rebounded sending him flying backwards towards Artemis as she landed on the ground, "Artemis! Watch out!" I shouted to her. She dodged back and shot another arrow at him, this time it poured out smoke then exploded right in his face. He cried out and I couldn't see him for a minute. The fire began to rage in the room, I saw Dick jumping to safety along with M'gann, Artemis came running out of the smoke to my side.

"So clever," The Parasite voice came out through the flames, "Trick me into igniting flammable gas. But you forgot, my double dose of invulnerability…Fire can't touch me….." He trailed off. I smiled, it wasn't all plain sailing.

"Unless you took you fill of my powers, you get my weaknesses too!" M'gann told him the flames surrounding her. I nudged Artemis, we needed to move M'gann before the fire got to her.

"No!" The Parasite hissed, I saw him try to fight it, but he collapsed on to the ground.

I walked over to near the fire, "Aw poor baby, was it something you ate?" M'gann elbowed me and laughed. I heard the machine power down and looked over, Dick was making the final checks he saw me looking and smiled. But the smile was wiped off his face by Faraday walking in to the building.

The arrogant agent looked at us say simply said, "We'll take it from here." No thank yous, nothing. His men put the fire out and slapped an inhibitor collar on his neck. I rolled my eyes.

We got back to the Circus and slipped in to our carriages before anyone knew we were gone. I sat on my bunk and took off my mask. "Alex!" Dick hissed, "Put it back on!"

"Why? We're all friends here, heck we know the true ID's off everyone here, why can't they know our names, I'm more than just Batgirl!" I threw my hands up and looked out of the window.

Dick put his hand on my shoulder, "I know, they only one that knows is Wally, but he saw my by accident. Alex the reason they can't know is for Bruce. Imagine what would happen if the world found out about your Dad."

I nodded, "Yeah I guess you're right. Now turn around or leave cause I'm changing!" Dick laughed and jumped in to his bunk and hid under the covers like a kid. I smiled and took my costume off, somethings never change.

The following morning Dick and I walked down to Jack Haley's office to tell him that the 'Darning Dangers' will be leaving the troop. He welcomed us in and Dick explained, "Well it's time to move on." He reached out and shook Jack's hand, I did the same.

"So the show will go on, and I have a feeling that I have you Dangers to thank," Jack said, looking at us both.

"Don't know what you mean," I shrugged.

"Course not," Jack laughed, "But it was a pleasure having you here." Dick smiled at him and we turned to leave, but Jack caught his shoulder and looked down at him, "Well Dick I'll miss you,"

Dick's jaw dropped slightly, "It's Dan! Dan Danger."

Jack raised and eye brow and placed both hands on Dicks shoulders, "Son you've grown, but some things never change; like the sight of a Grayson on the trapeze. You can't fake that, can't hid it." He looked over at me, "Now see this girl here, you hold on to her Dick, she looks like she's made of hard stuff,"

Dick grinned at me, "Oh you have no idea." I made a face, just because I beat him, well more like kicked his ass a few times in training there is no need to dwell on it, much.

"Well do an old ringmaster a favour will you?" Jack asked. That night we were back in the Big Top. I smiled as Dick soared in the air, he looked happy up there in the heavens, but I felt my radio-com in my ear buzz, it was Dad.

"Alex, I need you and Dick home as soon as possible, Joker is out of Arkham again," His deep voice growled in my ear.

"Copy that Dad," He was gone, I sighed, it never ended, but then would I have it any other way? Probably not.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: Enjoy the final in season 1, I will be moving on to season 2 next! Let me know what you think! **

* * *

I rolled over in bed, the sun was slowly rising, but something caught my eye. I pushed the covers off me and shivered, my room was cold. I pulled on my slippers and a hoodie, I looked down at the hoodie, it was Dick's, he gave me one of his when we were leaving Mount Justice the other night, mine went walk about after our mission in Europe. I patted over to the window and peeked out, my eyes grew wide; snow! There was snow! And then it hit me, it was Christmas Day! I whooped and punched the air and ran out my door down the corridor to Dick's room. I threw open the door, "Wake up!" I shouted, bounding across the room, flipping and landing on his bed with a thud.

"OW! Jeez Alex! Easy!," Dick's face appeared from under the covers, his black hair going in every direction, he was letting it get a little longer, much to Alfred's annoyance.

"Oh come on Dick! It's Christmas!" I beamed down at him, "And," I leaned closer, "It's snowing outside!" This seemed to work, his sleepy blue eyes woke up.

"Ok ok! Get off me so I can get dressed!" He shoved me off the bed and I scampered back to my room. I bumped straight in to something solid on in the corridor, it was Dad.

"Happy Christmas Dad!" I smiled at him, he grinned down at me. It was the one time in the year he was genuinely happy. He scooped me up into a bear hug.

"Merry Christmas honey," He said into my hair and kissed me on the cheek. "Did you see the snow?" I nodded, "Ok well get dressed and head down to the living room." I ran in to my room and fished out a pair of sweat pants, I pulled them on and kept Dick's hoodie. I walked out in to the corridor just as Dick was leaving his room, he walked over and gave me a hug.

"Happy Christmas," He said, I smiled up at him, then he looked at my hoodie, "Hey! So that's where that went too."

I skipped out of his reach, "Yeah and thanks, you're not getting it back."

Down in the living room the huge Christmas Tree was standing tall and proud, presents littered the floor underneath it. The tinsel decorated the fire place and our stockings hung from the mantle piece stuffed to the brim. I smiled, this was what home was about. I remembered back to my first Christmas here, I was in shock at what was before me. Alfred greeted me and Dick with hot chocolate.

"Merry Christmas Master Richard and Merry Christmas Miss Alexandra," He said smiling handing us our mugs. We thanked him and I gave him a hug.

"Oh! Alfred, we have a present for you!" I went over to the tree and fished out a small box that I had wrapped with a bow. I handed it to Alfred, "I hope you like it."

He gently took the ribbon off and opened the paper, "Oh! Miss Alexandra, its wonderful, where ever did you get it?" He took out the first edition of The Wind and the Willows.

"I called a vintage book shop I found in London, they had it! So Happy Christmas from Dick and me!" I grinned.

"Well thank you very much, I shall treasure it always," Alfred smiled and left the room. Once Dad arrived we could start opening the presents. I got some new clothes which Dad's assistant Jenny picked out, she knew my style, and of course Dad had to include something unusual, as Dick looked over a new video game Dad stood up.

"I have one more present for you Alex," He walked over to a book shelf and reached up. He took down a long box from the shelf, "I thought that you would appreciate this."

I took the box and sat it on the table. I unwrapped it and took the lid off. I gasped, right before my eyes were two beautiful swords. I took one out and held it, it was perfect, the balance the weight, the length of the blade. I picked the other one up and it was perfect too. I decided to test them, so I held them and did a series of movements hacking and blocking, then I flowered the blades around my body until they came a silver blur. I stopped and turned to Dad, "Thank you, so much! They're perfect!" I grinned.

"They are handmade for you and just for you," Dad said, "You earned it, your other blades aren't made for you anyways so I thought you needed your own."

I hugged him, "They're the best thanks."

* * *

After Christmas we had more celebrations, Red Arrow aka Roy, Icon, Plastic Man, The Atom and Doctor Fate were all now members of the Justice League. I was happy for Roy, it was all he ever wanted. But things weren't quiet for long, we had to stop Lex Luthor, Queen Bee, Cheshire, Sports Master, Bane and Blockbuster. We tricked them to think that M'gann, Artemis and Conor had betrayed The Team, but we arrived and the Team united together. Come on, we're family, no one is going to break us apart. But Luthor and Queen Bee escaped, I wasn't impressed, but we would get them again.

The next day we walked through the corridor in Mount Justice. I felt the new swords on my back, they had proven their worth in the battle the day before. The Team was a little low after hearing that a mole was discovered some where in the Team. I was dragging my feet beside Zatana, I had sorta adopted her as a sister, she had a rough few months with her Dad being taken by Doctor Fate, I kinda knew how she felt so we became close, she was now one of my best friends, along with the rest of the Team come to think of it.

"We have reason to feel proud of yesterdays victories, but one thing has not changed," Aqualad broke the silence.

"Some how the bad guys are still getting inside intel about us," Dick finished for him.

I piped in, "Yeah but at least we know that is isn't any of us!" We came in to the main hall of the Cave, Dad and Red Tornado were there for us.

"Yes you are correct Batgirl." He said then typed something in to the computer, "The mole was Red Arrow."

"Roy!?" Dick was shocked as was I.

Wally spoke up too, "No way! Batman that can't be true!"

"He was Green Arrow's sidekick," I said my voice still high from the shock, "We've known him for years."

Red Tornado walked forward, "Unfortunately the Roy Harper we've known for the last three years is in fact a Cadmus clone." I looked back at Conor, he held M'gann's hand tighter.

Dad spoke again, "The real Roy Harper was abducted and replaced immediately after booming Green Arrow's sidekick. The clone was pre-programmed with a drive to join the Justice League, which is why he was so angry over any delays to his admission, and why he refused to join the Team. This Roy Harper had no idea he was a clone, or a traitor, and his subconscious programming drove him to become 'League Worthy', so he struck out on his own as Red Arrow. When he was finally admitted in to the League his secondary programming kicked in and he attempted to betray the League to Vandel Savage. Fortunately I already deduced Red Arrow was a clone, we were prepared."

"Savage was subdued, but Red Arrow is still at large. He is now a fugitive, armed and dangerous." Red Tornado finished.

I looked around at the Team, Conor rubbed his neck looking shaken, "If you guys hadn't rescued me from Cadmus, that could have been me."

"What happened to the real Roy?" Dick asked quietly.

"We don't know, he isn't in Cadmus. We have to face the possibility that the real Roy Harper is dead." Dad told us. We all hung our heads, this can't be happening. I put my hand on Dick's shoulder and squeezed it, he knew Roy better than I did, he must be crushed.

"The clone Roy, the Team will find him," Aqualad said.

Dad shook his head, "Negative, Red Arrow is a League member and therefore a League responsibility." He touched his ear, clearly getting an incoming message, "I'm needed on the Watch Tower, Tornado stay with the kids." He walked over to the Zeta Tube and he was gone.

I narrowed my eye brows, that was strange, Dad never called us 'Kids' never. So why start now? I looked over at Dick he had the same questioning look on his face. But Zatana was holding her head, what was wrong with her?

Aqualad's voice came in to my head, "Clone or no clone, Red Arrow was one of us, we will go after him." But before we could do anything Red Tornado came up behind AL and went to grab him, but he suddenly shut down. I looked at Dick, what the hell was going on? Dick beamed up his computer from his gauntlet and began to analyse what was wrong with Red.

"He is totally powered down," Dick said. "All functions off line."

"Eh guys, I'm getting a low level mystic force at play here, I don't know if it caused him to power down." Zatana said still rubbing her temples, "Now that I think of it, I got the same read off Batman."

"Batman," I said, "He called us 'kids' he never says that!"

"Look," Wally took something from Red's hand, it was a star shaped chip, "One of those biotech chips we confiscated off Cheshire."

"Something isn't right," Aqualad said, I nodded, very instinct inside me was screaming, Dad always told me to listen to my instincts, but why was my instinct telling me to run from him? He was my Dad, but he wasn't the same. "Robin, Kid, Batgirl, Zantana, see if you can get Red back online, the rest with me to find Ro-Red Arrow."

I looked over Dick's shoulder, "The problem looks like it's hard wear not software, where do we start?"

Zantana grinned, "I know just the thing," She pointed upwards at Red's apartment.

A while back, when Dick and I along with other members of the team were on a mission, Zantata and M'gann had found out that Red had made a 'going out' body. What I mean is, a different body that looks like a real person, I had to laugh when I saw it, poor Red he tries so hard at being human. We began to download him in to the new body, when Rocket spoke, "So Tornado built this robot, to part?"

"Eh, not how he'd put it but yeah more or less," I said, but the light from the Zeta Tube caught my eye.

"Recognised; Black Canary 13," The computers monotone voice called out.

Canary walked towards us, "Hey guys, wanted to check in, see how you're handling… WHAT are you doing to Red?"

Wally waved his hands in front of his face, "It's not how it looks."

"It looks like you are downloading him into another body," Canary crossed her arms.

"Ok it's exactly how it looks," Wally looked at the ground, I tried not to laugh.

Suddenly Red sat up, "Team! Get out of the cave NOW!" I looked at Dick, he was looking around and so were Rocket, Wally and Zatana.

I looked over to Canary, she had gone back in to a brace stance, "Yeah, guys out! NOW!" But Canary's scream ripped through the cave, it tore Red's torso off, so he was just a body. I ducked behind the table along side Dick, he nodded. I leapt out from behind the table pulling my swords from their sheaths. I flicked them so they acted like a shield and spun then until they were a blur around my body. Canary was so fixated on watching them that she didn't see Dick flipping over my head and double kicking her in the chest. She went to get up, but I was ahead of her, I hit her in the back with the broadside of the sword then kicked her in the back of the knee sending her to the floor. But she stood up again, "You are going to have to do better than that you two," She smiled at us.

"Oh, I think we just did," Dick grinned. I heard a beep beep beep, and a gas capsule exploded on her shoulder sending sleeping gas up in to her face.

"Now Rocket!" I shouted. She nodded and fixed a force field around Canary so she would fall to the ground. I watched and she swayed the fell to the floor. I waved my hand at Rocket and she took the force field off. Canary lay there on the floor, "Tie her up and gag her, we need to move," I ordered.

We piled in to the SuperCycle aka Sphere, the computer spoke, "Recognised, Icon 20, Doctor Fate 17, Captain Marvel 15." Not good, I thought, Dick gave me the same look. But we were soaring out of the cave.

We got some height and air between us and the cave, "Stay off your radio," Tornado said, "Let the SuperCycle track Superboy. Instruct her to mask all signals, we cannot allow the League to track us."

I nodded and put the commands in to the SuperCycle, "Right course, just one question. Why is the Justice League after us?!"

"The entire League is completely under the control of Vandel Savage. Red Arrow seems to have been his means, his method. It was something Savage referred to as Staro Tech, an alien bio-organism used with nano-technology. It shuts down the mind autonomy allowing Savage to reprogram the individual to suit his needs, even my inorganic mind was not immune. But the process required 0.16 nano-seconds to fully integrate with its hosts nervous system. That delay allowed me to create an internal program that would kick in if I tried to infect anyone else and shut me down. Fortunately the Staro tech is body specific, so as John Smith I am now free of outside control."

Dick looked back at Red, "This Staro Tech it worked on Superman, four flavours of alien and android and Doctor Fate, defeating all of you without a fight?"

Red nodded, "Indeed, a remarkable achievement. One not easily countered."

I decided to reach out with my mind to see if M'gann was nearly by, the sensors on the SuperCycle were flashing, "Miss Martian are you near us?"

Her voice echoed clear in my head, "Here Batgirl, linking both squads and de-camouflaging."

"Great cause we really need to compare notes!" I added as the SuperCycle landed in the main hull of the Bio-Ship.

We got off the SuperCycle and she shrunk back in to being Sphere again. I helped Wally lean Red up against something. I stood up and rubbed my head, this was along to take in. Staro Tech, the League compromised, and not just the League but Dad, Dad was compromised. If I met him now, what would be do? Even with Dick we would be hard pressed to beat him. We needed a plan.

* * *

I sat nervously in the Bioship, my foot tapping on the ground. We had all been assigned squads, and most were in position. I felt a presence behind me, "You ok?" Dick asked.

I turned to face him, thumbing the blade of the sword, "Just a little nervous, these aren't normal criminals, this is the Justice League we're going against."

He nodded, "Yeah I get ya, but just remember that it isn't them attacking, its that Savage pulling the strings," He took my shoulders and leaned close to my war, "It isn't your Dad in there ok? It isn't Bruce, so power through and we get them back." I looked up at him feeling some tears brimming in my eyes, I wrapped my arms around Dick's waist and hugged him.

Aqualad came through on the radio, "Ok Team, Black Canary, Red Tornado and Red Arrow are all in position. Everyone in to final positions please." The ship landed and we grouped in a platform on the Tower. Our plan was a pretty simple one when you said it out loud; find a cure to the Staro Tech, create an antidote, fool Savage into thinking that Canary, Tornado and RA were reinfected, get aboard the Watch Tower and then try and free the Justice League. Actually on second thought it doesn't sound that simple out loud. But we had created an antidote and vaccine to the Staro Tech, so hopefully if Savage tried to reinfect the Canary, Tornado and RA he would fail. Hopefully.

"RT did it, he wirelessly bypassed the security system, so they shouldn't know we're here," Dick said through the mind link. I looked over his shoulder as the last of the Team arrived off the ship.

"Ok everyone, move out," AL said. So, it was go time. We had to try and subdue members of the Justice League and do it fast, if they grouped together we were done.

Plastic Man was hit first, then Hawkman, the Micron and the Captain Atom was down. We were making progress, but I looked around, where was Superman, and Dad? I couldn't see them anywhere, I looked over at Dick, he was wondering the same.

"Green Lantern cured," I heard RA through the mind link. Well thats a plus, he was a heavy weight of the Justice League. But the ground shook, oh no, I thought, it was a boom tube, I knew that feeling and sound anywhere.

"Heads up guys, theres an incoming of more Leaguers in the main hall!" I warned everyone through the mind link.

"Captain Marvel, Doctor Fate and Icon, all cured," Zantana told us.

"Well done everyone," AL said, "Now, Superboy, Batgirl, Robin and anyone that is free to the main hall, Red Arrow and Canary are struggling. I am going to help Artemis and Kid Flash."

I drew my swords, this was it. I ran in ahead of Dick and was blind sided my Wonder Woman, Ow! I flipped and landed skidding a few feet. I looked over to see Wolf tackle HawkWoman and Dick placed the chip on the back of her neck, another one down. But in front of me WonderWoman was twirling her lasso. I face her, "I got you girl," Rockets voice rang clear and she appeared behind WonderWoman. She threw the lasso towards me and I dodged it.

"Now!" I said to Rocket. A force field appeared around WonderWoman, "Can she get out of there? " I asked as WonderWoman kept smashing at the field.

"Not if she keeps punching it. The kinetic energy only makes it stronger.' Rocket told me, "But while I have her like this I'm a sitting duck!"

A dark shadow caught my eye, "Batgirl watch out!" Dick shouted. But pain exploded along my side and I was sent flying across the room, my swords dropped to the floor. I stood up dazed and look at my attacker. I gulped, it was Dad.

Conor was beside in seconds, "Are you alright?" He held me steady for a second.

"Yeah I'm fine, just gotta go and kick my Dad's ass, you wanna help?" I grinned at him. I saw Dick make a move. He launched at Dad but was sent straight in to a wall. I winced on the impact, there go some of his ribs. I ran to his side and stood ready. We looked over at Dad and he looked at us, raising his hand and cracking his knuckles. Dick made the first move, he threw some smoke bombs and I ran forwards, I went to swipe at Dad's leg, but he wasn't there. Then I felt where he was as he kicked me in the shoulder. Dick was no better off, he went for a high attack but Dad grabbed his leg and threw him across the room. I pulled myself up, we weren't going to win this using the moves that Dad taught us. I grabbed my swords, it was time to fight dirty. I ran at Dad and made it look like I was going low again, but at the last second I flipped in to the air over his head then kicked him in the back getting him off balance. I hooked my sword around his leg knocking him to the floor. He stood up slightly dazed and I took the advantage, I went to hit him with the swords, he blocked my attack, then again and again and again. I moved him across the room, so he was near a wall. "Sorry Dad," I said, and pulled a small explosive from my belt and threw it at the floor, the force sent him flying backwards and I double kicked him in to the wall. He fell to the ground and was knocked out. I placed the antivirus chip on his neck, and checked his pulse, he was going to be fine. I put my hand on his hand, "Sorry Dad, but I had to."

A crash broke my concentration. It was Superboy, he had Superman wrapped in a vice like hold.

"Do it! Do it!" Conor shouted, struggling against Superman.

"Are you sure?" Dick answered, taking a box from his belt.

"Yes!" Conor yelled. I ran over with the antivirus chip ready.

Dick opened the box, it was glowing green, it was kryptonite. Both of the Supers writhed in pain, but Superman being a full Kryptonian was out on the floor first. I put the chip on his neck and it was over. I helped Conor to his feet.

"Ugh, kryptonite hurts," Conor said getting his breath back.

"Which is way Batman keeps it in an overwhelmingly impenetrable vault in the Batcave," Dick said, "Well more like a whelming penetrable vault."

We made it back up to the Main Hall just as everyone else was walking in. I did a quick head count, everyone was here, we did it. I saw Red Torando on the floor with no arms or legs, but he didn't seem that bothered.

"Well done Team," He said to us all. "You have won the day."

The computer suddenly spoke, "Happy New Year, Justice League," then it began to play auld lang syne. Wally suddenly scooped Artemis up in his arms and kissed her. I grinned, they took long enough to do that. Kaldur got a peck on the cheek from both Zatana and Rocket. And M'gann and Conor kissed, well they were dating. I suddenly felt left out, totally ninth wheeling it, but someone grabbed my arm from behind and turned me around. It was Dick.

"I have sorta been wanted to do this for a while," He gave me a cheeky grin and pulled me to him. Our lips met. My heart nearly soared out of my body. I put my arms around his waist as we kissed, I didn't want it to stop. I remembered back to Haley's Circus when we had come so close, but I thought that it was just my imagination. We broke away from each other and I looked up into his eyes, he grinned down at me. I rested my head on his chest. He kissed the top of my head and ran his hand through the end of my hair. We walked over to the rest of the team, Dick put his arm around my shoulders as we walked and I left mine around his waist. We looked down at the Earth, it was safe for now. But how long would it take for another manic to come and try to destroy it. I sighed, enjoy the moment Alex, I told myself. I looked over to Artemis and she made a face, I laughed, but I was happy for them, I knew they'd end up together. Dick squeezed my shoulders, I leaned up on my tippy toes and kissed his cheek. Then I quickly lowered myself to the ground.

"What?" He whispered in my ear, he was so close I lifted my shoulder a little because it tickled.

"Eh... I just have no idea how we are going to explain this to Dad when he wakes up," I looked over to Dad who was stirring slightly.

Dick gulped, "Oh yeah, well do you wanna just keep it ourselves for the minute?" I knew he was terrified of what Bruce might do.

I nodded, "Sure, you're just gonna have to make sure Wally keeps his mouth shut!"

Wally looked over at his name, "Ah the two love birds, or at least the one love bird." Dick rolled his eyes. "And hey Batgirl, you know, you're pretty good with those swords, I think you have the wrong name."

"What do you suggest ?" I asked him.

"Well Batgirl doesn't suit, so how about…" He thought for a minute then looked at the swords on my back, "How about Blade?"

"Blade?" I ran the name over on my tongue. "What do you think Robin?"

Dick looked down at me, "Well I was watching you fight Batman and you were more of a Blade to me."

I nodded, that was it, "Computer, override Batgirl B04, update, Blade B04."

"Updated, Blade B04." The computer read out. I looked out over the world and lent my head against Dick's shoulder, things were looking up.

* * *

"Everything I thought about myself was a lie," I looked across the table at Roy, Red Arrow, he was distraught at what happened.

"Roy.." Canary tried to reason with him.

He shook his head, "I'm not Roy, I don't know what I am. All I know is that I have to find the really Roy Harper, I need to rescue Speedy."

"Guardian is already searching Cadmus," Dad told him. Canary took Red away to talk with him. But Dad kept, Dick, me, Aqualad and a few others at the table.

"Is there something else?" I asked.

Dick nodded, "The entire League was under Savages control for just over a day, most of the activity we can account for, but these six went missing for a full 16 hours we can't account for." I looked up and Martian Manhunter, WonderWoman, Green Lantern, HawkWoman, Superman and Dad, my heart dropped.

Dad looked up at the screen, "16 hours. What did we do?"


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: So we are now about 5 years in the future, and I'm gonna be dipping in to season 2. **

* * *

The wind ran through the buildings making a whistling sound that echoed off the walls. The street lamps blinked on and off and on and off. People shouted and doors closed as the last of the dregs were let out from the bars. Skyscrapers soared towards the sky, the lights on the top blinking in the darkness as a warning to planes. The trees bent in the wind, the last of the leaves falling fowl of the bitter wind whipping up in to the sky. The city glowed in the false light of the lamps and buildings. Gotham, it was one of a kind. It could make you or break you in seconds. One day you could be flying high and the next you'd be lucky to find somewhere to curl up in The Narrows. But it was my city, my Gotham. I stood on the edge of a building looking over and listening. In all my years doing this job I found listening was crucial. I thought about going home for a minute, there was nothing here. But then a car screeched around the corner almost going up on two wheels. Well some ones in a hurry, I thought shooting a cable across to where the car had parked up on the kerb. The doors opened, and I should have guessed by the driving style.

"Oooohhh! Looky here boys! A jewellery shop all open and for the taking, hehe! Well we can't just leave it here like this can we? Come on! Move it!"

"Coming puddin', god this is heavy!"

"Move! Before the Bat or the brats get here."

My cue, I dropped to the ground, landing on my feet crouched down. I rose to my full height, the swords on my back itching to be used. "Come on now. Joker, Harley? Don't you have cells in Arkham to keep warm?"

"Blade! No fair! Why couldn't we get the bird boy?" Joker looked up at me, his mouth wide in a demented smile.

"Just be thankful it isn't Batman," I raised my eye brows and drew my swords, "Now are you two going to come quietly or are we going to do this the hard way?"

"What do you think pudding'?" Harley screeched and swung a mallet, I ducked and kicked her in the ribs sending her flying back towards the wall where she landed with a thud. That was easy, but I turned to Joker. He had a manic look on his face and pulled out a machine gun.

"Really? That's it? You know Joker, there's a reason why they call me Blade," I locked the pommels of the swords together and spun them. They spun faster and faster, it was a blur. Joker opened fire, but the bullets ricocheted off the blades making a clanging noise as they hit. I closed the gap between us, then kicked the gun from his hand and hooked the back of the swords behind his legs knocked him to the ground. I placed the tip of the sword to his neck. "So ready to head back to the cosy Arkham?"

Once Joker and Harley were safely in the hands of Gotham PD, the night was mine again, all mine. I shot a cable into the sky and took off. Gotham was mine tonight, Dad was off helping Superman in whatever they we're doing, I should have paid attention when he was telling me. But there were some new additions in our Bat family; Dick had retired as Robin about three years ago and took up the mantle of Nightwing. I of course had given up my role as Batgirl five years ago, but our friend Barbara Gordon, the Commissioner's daughter, took up the role instead. And one night when Dad was on patrol he came across a kid facing off Two Face, the kid was brave but was in trouble on account of his Dad stealing off Two Face. But Dad took Two Face down, and then took the boy home, and so Tim Drake became apart of the family. Dick and him immediately became friends and Dick saw Tim as a younger brother. Tim of course found out about our little secret he some how managed to get his hands on the Robin costume and well that was that. I grinned remembering Dad's face, he wasn't too happy.

I landed on top of a building, listening to the cars driving by, and horns being sounded. I remembered back to another night, one that I would have rather have forgotten. It was about three years ago, and Dick and I were down in the Batcave. I was looking over some data about recent robberies at elite parties around the city, I had stood up and went over to take my swords off the table. Dick had come over to me and kissed me, it was quick, but it didn't go unnoticed.

"WHAT do you think you are doing?" We had both jumped, Dad was at the top of the stairs, I could almost see smoke coming out of his ears. "Speak!" He walked down towards us.

I had felt like a deer in headlights. Two years before this, Dick had kissed me on New Years after we managed to save the world, we had decided to leave it for awhile, but after about a year and a half, Dick officially asked me out, but we didn't tell Dad. "Eh Dad, we…."

But he ignored me and went for Dick. He picked him by the front of his suit and hurled him across the room. Dick landed with a thud on the far wall. Dad went to walk over again, I had ran over and stood between them, "Dad stop! Listen!" I had looked up at him, his towering height looming over me, I remember feeling Dick standing close behind me, he had grown too, he wasn't nearly as tall as Dad but I was only up to his shoulder. I was caught between a rock and a hard place. "Dad, don't hurt him." I had told him.

Dad's dark eyes looked down at me, "Don't hurt him? He is kissing you Alex!"

I had nodded, seeing it from his side, this must be quite strange. "Yes he was, we're dating Dad." I had just come out with it, it was best with him to not sugar coat things.

"You're dating?" He looked from me to Dick.

"Yes Bruce, and I'm sorry we didn't tell you," Dick said and placed his hand on my shoulder.

"It hasn't effect us or the Team, we still work hard regardless," I had added. Dad mulled it over for about a week, he didn't speak to us what so ever. After about a week he seemed to calm down. I had never pressed him on the subject, it had been three years now and still nothing. I brought myself back to the present, the city was coming to that midnight lull. I looked at the computer in my gauntlet, Alpha squad would be starting their mission to get Clay Face. Dick had asked me to hang around Gotham just incase things went wrong. But I knew they would be fine, so I made my walk down to the Zeta Tube. I thought it was very Doctor Who; it was a little phone box that could only take one at a time. I opened the doors and waited. "Recognised, Blade B04."

I stepped out in to the Cave in Mount Justice, our home base. I was welcomed with a crash, I looked over and saw Dick sending Lagoon Boy, or La'gaan, flat on his back.

"Neptune's beard!" He swore. "One day I'm gonna beat you Nighwing."

Dick grinned and walked over holding out a hand to help him up, "We'll see Lagoon Boy."

"Oh yeah Blade!" La'gaan waved, "Come to join the fun?"

"Had plenty of that already tonight," I laughed.

Dick walked over and gave me a light kiss, "What did Gotham throw at you tonight?"

"Ah you know, just The Joker and Harley. Nothing too bad," I grinned.

The computer cut off anymore conversation, Alpha Squad was back, "Recognised; Superboy B05, Miss Martian B06, Bumble Bee B17, Beast Boy B20, Robin B21, Blue Beetle B22."

I looked over the team, we had grown, new members in our little family. BumbleBee, Karen Beecher, was a friend from M'gann's High School, she had a suit that could make her shrink to the size of an atom. We had Beast Boy, or Garfield Logan, we found him on a mission to Qurac, his Mom Marie Logan moved there from the states to set up an animal sanctuary. But after he had an accident when we were there, M'gann gave him a blood transfusion he was able to shape shift. But Marie was killed in a car accident and he came to live with us in the Cave. And Blue Beetle, or Jaime Reyes, he was skate boarding at home in El Paso when a Lab exploded, and he became fused with the Blue Scarab. Malcom Duncan was also a new addition, but he mainly ran home base for us on missions, he and Bumble Bee were a couple. But by the why she just dissed him to head off to her job, I doubt he was rather impressed.

Conor stormed past me. He and M'gann had broken up awhile ago and now she was seeing La'gann, nothing like inter-team speed dating to make things comfortable. "I'm gonna hit the showers," Conor growled.

"Yeah that might be a good idea for you hermano," Jaime said as his armour folded away to Garfield.

"Yeah BB I can smell you from here," I held my nose.

Tim walked over to Dick and I, "Clayface is safely back in is Arkham cell. And I saw Harley and Joker being hauled in there too, you weren't in Gotham tonight were you?" He looked at me.

I shook my head, "Nope, been here all night." I was lying through my teeth, but I wanted them to think we had faith in them, which we did but Dick wanted me there just in case.

"Good work," Dick said, patting him on the shoulder.

But before we could ask anymore questions, Captain Atom cut us off, "United Nations headquarters is under attack."

Dick walked over to Malcom, "Beta is two blocks away." Malcom told him.

He nodded, "Captain Atom, the Team's Beta squad is three minutes away."

I thought for a second, who was on Beta tonight, then I remembered, it was Batgirl, Barbara, and Wonder Girl, Cassie Sandsmark. Well the intruder was going to have a something to them. I touched Dick's arm, and he nodded, at this stage we didn't need to speak sometimes, as lame as it sounded. I walked over to Garfield, "Hey kid, you wanna go grab a shower? You seriously smell, I mean I love ya, but you smell."

He grinned, "Come on Blade, I'm not that bad."

"Ok the fact that you are saying that its not that bad, means you can smell yourself and when you came smell yourself then its time for a shower. Go! Go on!" I told him, but he gave me a look, "No way, its an order for the sake of the Team's nose. Shower!" He hung his head and walked over to the showers with his tall between his legs, literally, his resting form is a monkey. I touched Conor's mind on the physic link, "Hey Con, BB is going for a shower, make sure he gets in it."

"Copy that," He answered, I could hear the amusement in his voice.

Jaime came over and threw me a can of Coke, "Thanks," I grinned and opened it.

"De nada," He smiled opening his. We all waited around for a while until Beta came back with a report, and it wasn't one we wanted to hear.

It turned out that Secretary-General Tseng was in fact a Krolotean, an alien in layman's terms. So myself, Dick and the senior members of the Team were summoned to The Watch Tower. We were greeted by one of the Green Lanterns, Martian Manhunter, Captain Atom, Dad, Rocket and Zantana, it was good to see them again. Last year they had gone and joined the Justice League.

"The bog guy is just a bounty hunter, extremely dangerous but not likely to return. The little guys another story, he is a Krolotean and Kroloteans always travel in packs." The Green Lantern told us.

"Meaning more of them are on Earth," Dad added.

"I believe my friend may have vital information on that point," Manhunter turned to a person I had never seen before, he looked a little intimated, I wouldn't blame him. "Some of you have not met Adam Strange of STAR Labs, he is the scientist responsible for managing the Zeta Technology we use for teleportation, and he has a story to tell."

Adam told us that when he was doing some repair work on the Zeta Tubes, when he was accidentally beamed to another planet called Ra'an, and a scientist there explained that they had been robbed by the Kroloteans. And according to Green Lantern, it fitted the MO of the Kroloteans, their lives were based on stolen tech. Adam then told us that the scientist on Ra'an found some Zeta radiation, and multiple locations on Earth.

"He gave me this," Adam pulled out a hologram of the Earth with markers.

"Then I'm ordering a two pronged attack," Captain Marvel walked over to Adam, "We will stage raids on each area, while another prong will head to Ra'an to cut the Kroloteans off at the source."

Adam coughed, "Eh, yeah prong one will work, prong two not so much. See these Leaugers are considered Wanted on Ra'an." He showed us who. My jaw dropped, there was Martian Manhunter, WonderWoman, Green Lantern, HawkWoman, Superman and Dad.

"Batman, its the missing 16 hours!" I said.

Dad nodded, "Agreed. Five years ago, these six leaguers when missing for 16 hours, now we know what happened."

"Never thought that Vandel might have sent us in to Space, I'll alert the Green Lantern core," GL said.

"We have 15 other Leaguers to send inside," Captain Atom said.

Adam shook his head, "No, everyone on the Justice League is banned from Ra'an."

Dick stepped forward, "Not all of us are Leaguers, I can send a squad to handle the Ra'an end of things and to find out more about those missing 16 hours, without causing an international incident."

"Do it," Captain ordered.

Dick nodded, M'gann, Conor and I followed him out, but Zatana and Rocket blocked our way, "You know that you guys still have an open invitation to the Justice League." Zatana asked.

"We know Z," Dick answered.

"But we're all happy, where we are," I added.

Back at Mount Justice it was all hands on deck. We called all the Team together for group assignments and a briefing. "We are hitting all locations at once," Dick told the team, "Destroy all Zeta tech that is present, and search for any humans that they might have taken. As always Mal is ops manager co-ordinating from here. Blade, you and I are Alpha, and we're going to Philadelphia. Batgirl, BumbleBee, you two and Wolf are Beta, you are going to Vladivostok. Robin, you Blue Beetle and Lagoon Boy are Gamma, prep the Bioship you're heading to New Orleans."

"Gamma always gets the soft gigs," I hear La'gaan mutter as he walked away to the BioShip.

"Tim," Dick caught his arm, "You're running Gamma."

"Me? Dick, I've never lead a squad before," Tim looked little shocked, I had to hide a grin.

"Making this a good opportunity to get your feet wet as a field leader," Dick said.

"Because it's Gamma and you're not expecting trouble or because we're stretched thin and you have no choice," Tim questioned.

Dick looked at me, you dug your own grave Grayson now get out of it. He then responded, "Just don't die ok? And no unnecessary risks to the squad, thats an order."

Once everyone was gone, I made sure that my swords were sharp and my utility belt was stocked with explosives. I felt a hand on my back, I turned, "You ok?" Dick asked.

"Yeah, lets get this done," I smiled at him. He grinned back and kissed me, "Come on Grayson, in the SuperCycle, now!" I swatted him away.

We flew to Philadelphia in an hour, I loved the SuperCycle. Dick landed her under cover and we jumped out, "Ok, you spread wide and we'll rendezvous in side." He said to me.

I put my hand on his shoulder, "Babe, this isn't my first mission." I ran off before he could respond. As I approached I knew something as up, there were no guards, nothing. I listened, no sound. I walked forward drawing my swords and slid down the bank on my feet flipping and landing, crouching low for cover. The building was a little busier inside than outside, well a graveyard was busier outside. I saw a few Kroloteans and one Zeta Platform, "Nightwing, are you getting this?" I asked over the radio.

"Yeah, this is really strange, but we have a mission," He said, "Ready?"

"Born that way," I said grinning. We launched our attack, the Kroloteans scattered, not putting up much of a fight, in fact they took a Zeta tube off planet. Ugh, I sighed. Dick searched around and there were no humans on the site.

"Set the explosives Blade," Dick told me.

"Acknowledged," I responded, and placed the explosives the platform. We cleared the building and they let rip.

Dick radioed Mal, "Alpha to Cave, one platform now non operational, and a few Kroloteans but they got away."

"Thats the same everywhere else," Mal told us.

"And Gamma?" Dick asked, panic rising in his voice.

"Yeah about Gamma," Mal sounded worried, he told us about the Kroloteans and the Zeta Platforms.

"We need to go. Now." I said to Dick. We ran straight to the SuperCycle and Dick took off towards New Orleans. I tried to calm my heart rate down, it was going to be ok, Tim would be fine, they all would be fine. It took what seemed like hours to get there, I heard an explosion. "No," I breathed, "Get closer!"

Dick guided the Super Cycle down to the water, my eyes spotted something in the water. It was them, they were alive, and they had brought the human survivors too! I looked up, the rest of the League were arriving, poor Tim, I thought, he's probably a little freaked seeing everyone like this.

Dick looked down at Tim, "Dude! Way to get your feet wet!' I laughed, trust Dick to make the joke. Even though we all did well, I knew in my heart of hearts that this wasn't over, something inside me was telling me that there was something more sinister at play.


	9. Chapter 9

**Authors note: Ok guys enjoy and review please! **

* * *

I turned the page of my college book and sighed, the real world always came to bite you in the ass. Assignments were due in and I was behind, it wasn't my fault, but how am I going to explain to my Professor that my assignment is late due to the fact that I was solving a possible inter-galactic incident as the masked vigilante Blade? Yeah that wouldn't go down well. So I must solider on and write a paper on; "Outline the distinctive architectural features of a Mycenaean palace, and discuss the form and function of two architectural features in detail", yeah I'm doing Ancient History in College, not exactly what Dad wanted but hey, its my life. There was a faint knock on the door, I looked up from an article about Knossos, "Yeah?"

Tim poked his head around the door, "Hey if you aren't busy me and Dick are going to the movies?"

I thought about it, this assignment was due tomorrow, damn, "Thanks Tim, but I better finish this, you and Dick have fun, tell me about it when you get back." Tim smiled and closed the door. Back to the grind stone.

An hour past and I was almost done, I decided to give myself a well earned break. I unfolded my legs and stretched, feeling my toes crack. I walked down to the kitchen, Alfred wasn't there so I helped myself to the fridge and took out some juice, then reached up and grabbed some cookies off the shelf in the pantry. I hopped on a stool and munched away on the cookies, but I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. I went to smile at Alfred, but Dad walked around the corner.

"Oh, hey Dad," I said.

"Alex, we need to talk," He said and turned on his heel. Oh boy, what did I do? I followed him up and shut the door.

Dad sat at his desk, his dark eyes staring at me, "Sit."

I sat, that tone, it would make an army General squirm. "What is it?"

"You and Dick," He said, oh no, here we go. He hasn't said anything in nearly three years and now he wants to talk.

"And?" I asked, trying to maintain composer.

"Well," Dad said, moving in the chair and cleared his throat, "Well." I couldn't believe what I was seeing, Bruce Wayne, The Batman, nervous? No this couldn't be? "I know that you two have been dating for a while now, and I have watched you both working out on the field and with the Team, you work well together. But you were 18 last month and you're now in college and Dick, well Dick is 19 and I just wanted to see if you are both, well…. being safe?"

My face red bright red, was Dad actually asking me this, oh my god, "Eh Dad, are you asking me if Dick and I have had sex?" I saw him cringe at the mention of it. "Well em, yeah, we're fine so I'm just gonna go now," I rose out of the chair, and walked backwards out of the room, "Yeah good talk Dad good talk." I slipped out of the room and but my back against the wall. That was probably one of the single most embarrassing moments of my life. I ran back up to my room and leapt on to the bed. Ok Alex, think about Mycenaean Palaces, yeah think about them. But a knock on my door stopped my mental blocking. Oh god, I braced myself.

"Hey, its me," Oh thank Christ it was Dick. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, yeah, come in sorry," I said, trying to get my heart rate down to normal, flash backs of the conversation ran through my mind.

Dick walked in and move my notes aside to clear a spot to sit on, "You ok? You seem a little off."

"If you just had the hour I just had, you'd be the same as me." I looked over at him then back at my laptop.

"What happened?" Dick gave a small laugh.

I shook my head, "Well I went to the kitchen to get a snack and Dad called me in to his office, where he proceeded to ask me if me and you had done it."

"Oh!" Dick's eyes grew wide, "What did you say?" He grinned.

"It's not funny! I avoided the question and nearly ran outta the room!" I gestured.

Dick laughed, "Well the movie was good, you missed some fun M'gaan and Garfield came too."

"Next time," I said to him and began typing away at my essay, I had found something good to say and I wanted to get it down. But Dick had a different idea. I felt hands on my waist and I was pulled backwards. "Hey! No!"

"Ah relax," Dick grinned and kissed my head. I sighed giving up, I lay back in to his chest. We stayed like that for awhile, him telling me about the movie and who was in it, moving his fingers up and down my arm. I turned in his arms and looked at him, then leant down and kissed him. "Ok, I gotta work now." I flicked my leg around his and threw him off the bed. He landed with a thud on the floor.

"Ow! No martial arts in bed!" He grumbled.

"Out or I can't go on patrol tonight!" I pointed to the door.

* * *

The following day Dick and I had to head out to Star Labs in Taos, M'gann, Conor and Garfield were coming back from Rann and we needed a full report asap. We met up with The Green Lantern, WonderWoman and Captain Atom, I always wondered about Green Lantern, I mean there are three of them on Earth and like what to they do, how did they get picked?

"Sir, we have received signals from Rann, they are arriving now," The assistant told us.

I looked up at Dick, he was in business mode, arms folded standing tall and looking at the Zeta Tube, to be honest, it was kinda hot.

"Recognised: Adam Strange A11, Miss Martian B06, Superboy B05, Beast Boy B20. "

"Nightwing! Blade! Check out my supercool Alien souvenir," Garfield ran over and held up a bandana. M'gann placed her hand on his shoulder and told him something through the physic link. I grinned he was a cute kid, so carefree.

"Zeta Squad, report," Dick asked, his stance not changing from before.

M'gann took charge, "Our mission to neutralise the Krolotean's Zeta Platforms on Rann was a success."

"I've also brought back specs from Rann to create a Zeta Shield to protect Earth from anymore Aliens beaming on to the surface from off world," Adam Strange added and pulling up a hologram of the idea.

"How will take effect our own Zeta capabilities?" Captain Atom asked.

"It won't. The shield will activated on an altitude above the Watch Tower orbit, League Zeta Tubes will still function normally." Adam told us. I was impressed.

"Tell them about Rimbor!" Garfield suddenly burst out, "Tell them about the 16 hours!" We looked over at M'gann, I felt Dick tense beside me, we were both on edge, this was not good.

"It maybe easier to show you," She said and mind linked us all. She showed us that she had interrogated a Krolotean General, they had paid the government in Rann to land a secret base in the jungle on Rann. From there they stole Zeta Platform tech from Adam's friend Sardath. They landed another another ship on Earth in New Orleans which Tim, La'gaan and Blue had destroyed, but a few hundred Kroloteans had already been beamed here. They had build more platforms and bright in more Kroloteans and began abducting humans and replacing humans. This wasn't good, it sounded like an invasion.

"And what about the 16 hours?" WonderwWoman asked, I felt for her, she was going to find out about what she did five years ago.

"Well as you know, Savage placed the League under his control and six of you went missing. It turns out that you were teleported to a planet called Rimbor, where you spend 16 hours on a rampage attacking everyone and everything in sight and announcing in several alien languages that you were the Justice League from Earth and that the rest of the galaxy should beware. That's why the Kroloteans came, the League itself brought Earth to their attention," M'gann finished.

My mouth was dry, I was in shock. I took Dick's hand and he squeezed it. Dad had been there, but Dad would never do that, he forgot for Justice and honour. But he wasn't himself, he had no control, so what next, what would happen?

WonderWoman looked as shocked as I was, "I don't know what to say. I have no memory of this, none."

"Don't blame yourself," Captain Atom place a hand on her shoulder, "Blame Savage and his Light. But John, how is it that you haven't heard of this." He turned to the Green Lantern. Busted for lack of info.

"No clue, Rimbor not a planet in my section but I'll head to O immediately to consult with the Guardians of the Universe and the rest of the Green Lantern Core. We'll get to the bottom of this Cap I promise," John said. I sighed, poor show Green Lantern, come on, people are counting on you!

Captain Atom nodded then turned to us, "In the mean time we still have a Krolotean invasion on our hands, you did good work on Rann. Now we need you all at the Hall of Justice."

* * *

I drank some water out of the bottle that I was holding, in this life sometimes you forget to look after yourself, as crazy as it sounds you forget to eat and drink. The Team and the League were slowing coming in from various parts of the world after finishing missions, but the one person I missed was Artemis. She and Wally had decided to leave the life behind them and retire from the game, I could see their point and me and Dick talked about it ourselves, but I had been doing this since I was ten and Dick since he was nine, it was almost who we were, we couldn't leave it. As I was thinking I felt someone behind me, it was Dick, I grinned, he sneakily put his arm around my waist and kissed my neck, "What is it?" I asked.

"Nothing, you just looked at little worried and until we're called in for briefing I thought we could actually talk for a while," He smiled in to my neck and kissed it again, I turned and kissed his lips, relaxing for the first time a a few days.

"Jeez get a room!" BeastBoy walked by waving his hand at us. I burst out laughing, trust Garfield to ruin a moment.

A door opened off the Main Hall, Dad, M'gann and J'onn walked in. I tried to see if Dad was ok with the whole Rimbor thing, but as usual he was like a rock, unreadable.

"We have found out where the Kroloteans have their base. Malina Island, it is inside the volcano there. They will have been alerted to the goings on at the other Krolotean bases, so we need to move now." Dad told us.

All of us we're spilt in to teams, my team was of course Dick, Tim, Barbara and Dad, we hadn't fought together like this in a while, it was gonna be fun. Malina Island came in to sight, "Remember this is primarily a recon mission, we want to learn all we can about the Kroloteans strategy before we shut it down and deliver them to the Green Lantern Core," Dad said. I looked back at Dick who was flying the BioShip, he gave me a faint smile. The Barbara and Tim caught my eye, I wonder were they as excited as I was? It had been so long since I had gotten out properly, ever since Aqualad was gone, or more betrayed us, Dick was running the team and I was second in command, and when you're in command, you don't get to have any fun.

"Approaching drop zone Beta," Dick said to Aquaman and La'gaan. A hatch in the BioShip opened and they dropped in to the sea below. "Drop zone Gamma." Our turn! I leapt out of the ship and drew my swords, twisting each in each hand, feeling them. We got in with little hassle. Dad and I took down the guards while Barbara and Tim tied them up, Dick worked his magic in taking out the security system and opening the doors.

"Ok slowly," Dad said to us and lead the way. I looked up in shock slightly at the setup. It was extraordinary. The cave was tall, and the floor was warm underfoot due to the dormant lava underneath. Taking centre stage in the cave was a ship, this space ship was easily the biggest I've seen, it towered above us, walk ways linking in to different parts of the ship. Kroloteans moved cargo on board, I just hoped that there were no people in there. But I spotted something else, I nudged Dad and pointed. Down below I saw a Manta Ship, and Manta troopers, this was not expected. Dad gave us the signal, move out. Dick, Tim and Barbara went one way, Dad and I went the other. I leapt lightly down to the next walk away and landed on a Manta solider, he crumbled underneath me, Dad knocked the other out with a swift punch.

Suddenly one of the Manta soliders shot in to the water, Aquaman and La'gaan, but I needed to focus, cause when I looked up there was troopers coming for round two. But they spotted Tim, and he dodged, so Dad jumped down and tackled them. I ran forward flowering my swords faster and faster, I hit the first with the broad side and kicked him out of the way, but before I cold act on the second Dick swung in and kicked him against the wall. "Nicely done," I nodded to him.

Aquaman and La'gaan we're fighting down below, but they had bitten off more than they would chew. The Kroloteans were using their cargo loading machines as weapons. I bit my lip, where was Delta squad?

"Blade! Manvoer seven!" Dick shouted, I nodded running towards him. He cupped his hands and threw me in to the air.

I reached forward and landed on the higher platform, "Why hello boys," I called to the troopers, one either side of me. They both ran towards me and I waited, the sprung up in the air and kicked them both to the ground. Easy peezy.

Dick's voice suddenly came over the radio, "Nightwing to Delta squad, enemy is attempting escape request back up." I smiled here come the big guns. A blast suddenly took a section of the fair wall out, SuperMan, WonderWoman and WonderGirl came flying in, SuperBoy was last in, with no flight power he relied on jumping, which I thought was equally cool. SuperMan picked up Conor and threw him in to a cargo plane, taking it out, then another two on the way back down, and another on landing.

"Quadruple! Nice!" I heard Superman say. WonderWoman and WonderGirl took out another three between them, we were making progress, so much for a recon mission. I landed on the ground ready to make another attack. But I was stopped in my tracks when I saw Aquaman, he had punched the Manta soldier and the helmet had come off, standing before my eyes was Aqualad, our Kaldur, what had he done? Dick had told me, but I didn't want to believe it, and by the look of Aquaman and La'gaan's faces they didn't want to either.

"I had not believe Nightwing until this moment," Aquaman said.

"You did not want to believe," Kaldur shouted.

"None of us wanted to believe it. How could you betray us?" I asked, lowering my swords.

"You dare question me after all of you let Tula die?" Kadur shouted, he raised his water swords and I raised mine.

But Dick landed in front of me, "Kaldur that was a mission, AquaGirl knew the risks, no one wanted her to die!" He tried to reason with him.

"Ugh! Neptune's beard!" La'gaan swore, "Don't coddle this traitor, he has joined forces with our King's greatest enemy!"

"Do you mean the King that hid the identity of my real father?!" Kaldur said.

"That was my error in judgement Kaldur, no one else need suffer for it," Aquaman pleaded.

Kaldur narrowed his eyes, "All will suffer if Black Manta demands it, blood is thicker than sea water." He shot a explosive at us, but Dick pushed me out of the way, the explosive hit but when I looked up Superman had taken the force. But Dick and Kaldur were gone! My heart raced, Superman pulled me to my feet.

"Are you alright Blade?" he asked.

I took a minute, "I'm fine, but where's Nightwing?!"

Superman shook his head, "I don't know, he was here a moment ago." I bent and picked up my swords, if Kaldur hurt Dick in any way, I would do things to him that made the Medieval times look like a Happy Meal. But I heard a noise, I looked over to where the dust was settling, there was a hole in the wall. I sheathed my swords and leapt down it.

"Kaldur!" I shouted after him, he turned.

"Ah Blade, just you and me is it?"

"No, it isn't," Dick appeared out of the gloom, my heart did a little flip of joy.

"Fine you can take me down, or you can save everyone from this bomb," He gestured behind him. This was not good. "I am told that it is rather impressive, you have two minutes." He ran and jumped into the water, he was gone.

Dick ran over to the bomb, "Can you disable it?" I asked him.

He shook his head and turned on the radio to all channels, "We have a bomb down here, alien tech, I cannot disable it, I repeat I cannot disable it. All squads evacuate to BioShip." We ran towards the exit, I saw most of the team were already out. The BioShip was standing and prepped.

I ran in and Dick got to the helm, I did a head count, Dad, Tim, Barbara, Cassie, Wonderwoman, Conor, La'gaan, Aquaman, and M'gaan and J'onn were there already, they had been disguised as Kroloteans.

"Well done Alpha squad," Dad said and took a flash drive from J'onn.

"Find a seat, its time to go," M'gaan said.

"Wait! Where's Superman?" Conor looked around. But we needed to get airborne now. M'gaan took the ship up and up high, but we still got hit from the blast, I was knocked forward in my seat, but the BioShip pulled us out. We saw Superman fall from the explosion, Aquaman got out and brought him back in.

WonderWoman knelt down and rested his head on her lap, "He's breathing and his pulse is strong, he'll be aright."

"He didn't save the Kroloteans he won't be alright with that," Conor said.

"What just happened?" Cassie asked, her voice was laced with confusion.

"The Kroloteans we're clearly trying to build a new ship," I said.

"They had to Blade, it was their only way to leave Earth with out their platforms or original ship," Tim said sighing.

"But was Aqualad helping them escape?" Cassie pressed, "Or luring them in to a trap?"

"The bomb was of alien origin," Dick said, "Yet the Kroloteans knew nothing about it, so where did it come from?" He turned to Dad.

"I have the feeling that it maybe up to you and your Team to find out," Dad said looking out at the horizon. We were silent after that, but all I could think about was what Dad had said, up to us?

We landed the BioShip on the beach by Mount Justice. Dad called Dick, Tim, Barbara and me over to him. "After the events on Rimbor, the Green Lanterns think it best we go, Hal and Guy have gone ahead, John shall be taking us there." My heart dropped, what was he on about? "We should be fine, Icon is coming with us, he has knowledge in inter-galactic law."

"Can we not go with you?" I asked quietly.

"No, Hawkman is accompanying his wife but that it all," Dad said.

"Be careful alright?" Dick said.

"I was going to say the same to you four. I fear we leave the more dangerous task here on Earth.," Dad told us.

We all looked at each other, "We'll manage," Dick said.

Dad turned to go, I forgot all decorum, "Dad," I said and hugged him, he hugged me back, "If you don't come back I am coming to get you ok?" I felt tears welling in my eyes. He chuckled deep in his chest then walked over to the rest of the group. Soon they were in the sky and off in to deep space.

We walked back to Mount Justice, Dick took my hand as we walked. We were all a little deflated after they days happenings. Those that lived in the Cave went to bed, I decided that I was heading back to Gotham, the others followed me too, there was no point staying. We Zeta'd back to Gotham and said bye to Barbara as she went home, Tim, Dick and I made our way back to the Batcave. I hoped Alfred was asleep, there was no way I would have the energy to explain everything to him.

We shut down the Zeta tube and dragged ourselves up stairs into the main house. It was dark and seemed empty even though the three of us were in it. It wasn't the same without Dad. Tim waved goodnight and walked down the corridor to his room. A dreaded feeling it me, I grabbed Dick's arm.

"Hey," He turned to me, "What's wrong?"

I looked up at him, his blue eyes full of concern, eye brows knotted together trying to read my face in the gloom. "Can you stay with me tonight? I really don't want to be alone." He nodded and kiss my head. He followed me in into my room, I peeled my suit off me, its black and red colours glimmering in the darkness, I pulled a t-shirt on and climbed into bed beside Dick. I curled up around him, and he enveloped me in a hug. Sleep took me quickly but my dreams were filled with the clashing of swords, gavels being hammered, fires blazed and in the centre was something blue and something fast, I longed to see what they were, but they were just out of reach.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's note: Hi all! This is set straight after the last chapter, its a little short, wanted to save the good stuff for the next chapter!**

* * *

Someone was shouting, who was shouting? It's so early in the morning, why all the noise?

"Alex! Alex! Wake up!" Someone called my name and I jolted awake, "Are you ok?" Dick's blue eyes met mine, he looked worried, half his face being lit by the moon giving him a ghostly appearance. "You were shouting in your sleep."

"What?" I rubbed my eyes.

"You were shouting in your sleep and talking, what was it?" He brushed a piece of my hair from my face.

"I…. I… I don't remember," I sighed, whatever darkness was in my sleep I had forgotten it completely.

Dick sat up in the bed, the moon lit bouncing off his chest and stomach, he pulled me to him and wrapped me in a hug, "Shhh," He whispered and kissed my head, "Sleep Alex." I wanted to tell him that I was fine, it was probably just a bad dream about Dad or something, but for once in my life I stayed silent and closed my eyes. I listened to Dick's breathing and strong heartbeat, the evenness of the rhythm and the constant reassuring sound. I don't know when I feel asleep again but the next time I opened my eyes it was bright out. I was still in Dick's arms, I kissed his chest and wriggled free. I padded across the room and pulled out some sweat pants and decided to head down stairs, I didn't want to wake him.

I walked down the stairs rolling my neck, it hurt, probably from last night in the Krolotean base. Even though they were aliens and ones that were trying to take over the world, I felt sorry for them, no one deserved the death that they got. I found Tim in the kitchen, he was digging into some bacon, eggs and pancakes that Alfred had made, there was a stack of them in the centre of the table, my mouth watered.

"Good morning!" Tim smiled his mouth full off pancakes.

"Morning," I sighed, taking a seat and piling food on to it, "You got school?"

Tim shook his head, "Alex it's noon and its Sunday." He pointed to the clock in the kitchen.

I rolled my eyes, "Of course it is," I took a bite if bacon, "Did you fill Alfred in?"

"No, when I came down Canary was leaving so she must have," Tim said. I nodded, it as good of her to come over. I heard bare feet scuffing into the kitchen, we both looked up from our breakfast and saw Dick walking in, his pyjama bottoms hanging loose on his hips and he rubbed the back of his head making his hair even messier.

"Good morning," He humbled walked by me.

"Hey Grayson!" I made a face, he stopped in his tracks and backed up a few steps. I put my arm around his waist and he bent kissing me softly. I broke away but he poked me in the ribs, "Ow!" I yelped. He laughed and pulled a chair over to help himself to breakfast. We took the rest of the day off, for a change to lounge on the couch and watch Tim and Dick play video games together and watching movies, it was nice to be normal once in awhile.

* * *

I was down in the cave when the computer rang, it was Black Canary, "Hi Alex, I need to ask you and Dick something."

"Shoot," I said leaning back in the chair.

"We've located Red Arrow, and we need both of you to come and try and bring him in," She asked.

"Yeah of course, we were just about to head to the Cave but we can meet you in DC." I hung up the call and went to get my suit. Alfred had brought it down for me, I took it out of the case and smiled at it. It was my own design, after giving up being Batgirl I needed a new suit, and this one was perfect. It was full bodied with kevlar plates for protection, my swords hung at my back and a utility belt hung around my waist. It was entirely black bar two red stripes that ran from the sides of my neck down my arms and the sides of my legs. It fitted me to a tee, it was perfect. I pulled my legs into it just as Dick was coming down the stairs, "Whoa!" I turned, I hadn't even gotten the top half pulled up.

"Relax, I've seen you naked," He grinned.

I turned my head and made at face at him, "Get your suit on, we have to go."

"Why?" He asked looking up from the computer.

"Canary called, they've found Red Arrow, we need to bring him in, Wally is meeting us there and so is Jim Harper and Green Arrow." I said zipping up the suit finally, "So get that hot body of yours into the Nightwing suit asap, I'll be waiting at the Zeta Tube." I sheathed my swords and put on my eye mask before he could say another word.

We all met at the rendezvous point in DC, I gave Wally a hug when I saw him, it had been so long. "Go easy Batgirl," He teased, I made a face at him. We waited for what seemed like hours when I heard a cable hit on the stair well of the building we were standing on. I heard some one zip-line across but then fell on landing, that was Red, but he never fell. But as I peered around the corner I saw why. Green Arrow was talking to him but as I got a glimpse of Red he was a mess; he had lost a lot of condition on his body, when we were kids he always looked bigger and taller than Dick, but now if Dick was to stand beside him he would dwarf Red completely. Red's hair was long and messy, he had about four days of stubble on his face. Oh Roy, what have you done to yourself?

"Come on Roy," Green Arrow extended his hand.

"I'm not Roy! I don't know who I am," He said turning, "I'm just a clone, a knock off. I have been trying to find the real Roy for years and what have you all been doing? Nothing!"

Jim Harper, who was also a clone and the old Guardian walked over to him, "Red, I understand how hard this is, but you have to find yourself, Roy is gone. It was Cadmus policy to delete the source material, he's gone brother." Jim tried to place a hand on Red's shoulder but Red jerked away.

"How could you give up looking for your friend?" He asked all of us.

Dick stepped forward, "Red, we've done the math, you are our friend. Roy was taken before any of us became friends."

"You're the only Roy we know," Wally finished.

Red shook his head, "It doesn't change anything, I need to find him, dead or alive."

I was getting annoyed, "And how do you think you are going to find him. Look at yourself Roy! When was the last time you trained, hell when was the last time you slept?"

"I'm in shape, I'm in the best shape of my life!" He retorted. I stepped forward and threw a punch, he blocked, I threw another and then another and then a kick, he fell back and nearly off the edge of the building, I grabbed him by the front of his suit.

"That was me holding back, way back," I pulled him in and let go, he fell to his knees. "You used to treat your body like a temple, now look at you."

He got to his feet, "I don't need this, any of it, I'm outta here." He pushed pasted us and leapt off the building to the next one below. I hung my head, our friend was truly lost, there was nothing we could do.

We arrived at the Cave in Mount Justice to chaos, the computers were up and talking about an explosion, all of the Team were talking together, well more like shouting. We couldn't see what exactly was going on they were all talking at once, I'd had enough, "Quiet!" I shouted at the top of my voice, silence befell the Cave, "What is going on?"

"Superboy and Blue Beetle!" Garfield jumped up and down.

"What about them?" Dick asked him.

"Well,' M'gann started, "Conor got in to one of his moods and well sorta took Blue and well they got in a little accident."

"Recognised SuperBoy B06, Blue Beetle B22." The Computer cut in.

"Well we can ask them ourselves," Dick crossed his arms and looked at the conquering heroes returning.

Both of them stopped in their tracks, "Are we in trouble?" Conor asked.

"Depends on the answer, what happened?" I stared at them.

"It wasn't our fault. We went out for a drive in the SuperCycle and saw that Whisper and Dare were going to the Hall of Justice, they took hold of a weapon and planned to destroy a Nuclear power plant in Arlington, we couldn't just let them hermano," Blue looked at us.

I glance up at Dick, "Ok, well in future, if you see that something is coming to a head, you contact the Team. Understand?" I glared at them.

"Understood," Conor mumbled.

"Comprendido," Blue looked at his feet.

Dick went off to discuss matters with Malcolm about what missions to handle next. I found myself wandering in to the kitchen, Garfield was watching TV and M'gann was baking something as always, the smell filled my nose. I love baking, I'm no Master Chief but its the smell that gets me, it reminds me of Christmas and warm nights by the fire. "What you cooking?" I asked hopping on the counter top.

"Well I have cookies in the oven and now I'm mixing up some cake for Jaime's bake sale tomorrow in school," She stirred the mix over and over, I resisted the temptation to stick my finger in and eat some of the mix, it tastes so good.

"So how are things with you and La'gaan?" I swung my legs against the counter.

M'gann looked at me, "Oh you know, it's going well."

I raised my eyebrows, "Just well? Not going to expand on that point?"

She gave me a look, well that was a no, "What about you and Dick?" Quick change of conversation there M'gann.

'Well it's really good actually, and Dad was coming around to the idea, but lately he seems really distant at times, like if I'm asking him something he doesn't seem to hear me he's off somewhere else. I think it might be the stress of running the team," I said.

M'gann poured the mix in to the tin, "Yeah that could be it, but try and talk to him later? I know you can be persuasive." I laughed, that was true.

"Can Blade, M'gann, WonderGirl and BumbleBee come in to the Main Hall," Well speak of the devil.

M'gann put the cake in the oven and we walked in together, "What's going on?" I asked.

"You have a mission, and you need to leave as soon as possible," Dick said to us and pulled up amap on the computer, I gulped, we were off to Qurac.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's note: Hi guys enjoy this one! Let me know what you think. **

* * *

The BioShip gained altitude and cruised over the Earth. I looked at the dials in front of me, all was reading normal. Behind me Cassie tugged at her suit, "Relax WonderGirl," I gave her a smile.

"I'm just so excited this is going to be great," She blurted out. I looked over at M'gann who rolled her eyes. I had a soft spot for Cassie, she was so enthusiastic about everything, but sometime that got her trouble when we were on missions, I only hoped that she would contain herself for this mission.

The computer came on in front of us, Dick was calling to fill us in, "Ok, so investigating the origin of the Alien bomb that destroyed the Krolotean Invasion force is still a high priority. We suspect the bomb many have been smuggled to Earth via a Boom Tube. Watch Tower sensors picked up that there is a Boom Tube activity over Qurac. Alpha Squad your mission is to…."

"Sneak behind enemy lines recon known Boom Tube hotspots and find alien tech matching the bomb, oh, and don't cause and international incident! Right?" Cassie said at ninety miles an hour, and pressed a button on her suit turning it into stealth mode.

"Yeah that just about covers it," Dick grinned.

"And what about Simon?" M'gann asked, her voice laced with hatred. Simon was a physic that was working for Queen Bee, the last time he and M'gann met, M'gann totally mind wiped him leaving him in the hospital.

"We have conformation that Queen Bees telepathic enforcer is still catatonic in a Quraci hospital, after his last encounter with you," Dick told her. "But Bialya's dictator Queen Bee is another story, her ability to control the minds of men is why Alpha is an all female squad for this mission."

I decided to have a little fun and crossed my arms, "Oh really? And would you have felt the need to justify an all male squad for a given mission?" I raised my eye brows.

I could see Dick squirm slightly and he coughed, "Em… eh… I….theres….. theres no right answer eh for that is there…. so….. Nightwing out." The screen went blank.

I leaned back in my chair, "Queen Bee isn't the only woman that can mess with a man's mind." The girls laughed, poor Dick, but he dug is own grave for that one.

M'gann landed the BioShip just outside the location of the Bialian camp, we finally had a lead. We got ourselves to the edge of the camp and stopped, I nodded to M'gann to start up the physic link. I looked over the camp with my binoculars; three hangers were present, some soldiers patrolled the area, armed to the teeth, and there were some tents set up too, nothing too complicated then. "Ok the other Boom Tube hot spot have all been busts, but this much security must be guarding…"

"Some big deal Alien stuff, right?" Cassie cut in.

"Our job is to find out," M'gann told her, "Blade take the south hanger, Bumble Bee take the middle and I'll take the north, Wondergirl hold position." Good call M'gann, I thought.

"What? Why can't I go in?" Cassie looked taken back.

"You're WonderGirl honey not Stealther-Girl," Bumble Bee said to her.

"I can do this!" Cassie protested.

I felt sorry for her, "No ones knocking you're enthusiasm Cass, and in a fire fight there is no one I would rather have at my side, but we are trying to avoid that, and we need a look out," I gave her a faint smile.

"Use the physic link only," M'gann instructed, "The Bialians can hack our radios, anything goes wrong we scatter and meet back at the rendezvous point." Time to move out.

I went over the brow of the hill and saw Bumble Bee turn in to her minuet size and M'gann went invisible, I had to rely on my training, no superpowers for me. I slid down the sand dune and waited until the guards past then I ran to a jeep and waited. I heard a car door opening, I dropped to the ground and looked, my eyes grew wide, this wasn't possible. Getting out of the car was Simon, I couldn't warn them on the physic link now, not when he was here. I would just have to continue with my part of the mission and hopefully we'd be ok. I ran to the side of the hanger and saw a vent, perfect! I shot a cable up and climbed up, shutting it behind me. So I needed to scope out this place, I crawled down until I saw an outlet. I plugged in to my gauntlet computer and took in the read out of the building, I read over the plans, that was strange, there was something underneath us, it was huge, possibly a chamber or some short. I turned off the read out making sure it was stored and I kept crawling, I needed to take the next left and then I would be over the main hanger. But something stopped me in my tracks, a huge crash went off outside, I ran people running and shouting. I cursed, no radios and no physic link, I was flying blind here. Well there is no point just sitting here Alex, I told myself. I went to move but I couldn't, you have got to be kidding me, I was stuck! Stuck in a base that could potentially explode or otherwise at any stage.

I had been stuck for about fifteen minutes when I heard a noise, it was coming from down the vent on the left. I pulled my hand forward and made a fist energising my tasers on the knuckles of my glove. I waited and pulled my arm back, 50,000 volts coursed through. It was getting close, I took a breath, one, two, three.

"Ahhhhh! No!"

I stopped mid punch, "BumlbeBee? What are you doing here?" I hissed.

"Girl! You look like turkey stuffing on Thanksgiving!" She said sniggering.

"Thank you that's so helpful," I glared at her.

"This was your escape route?" She put her hands on her hips.

"No I got stuck and the alarms went off," I told her, getting a little more annoyed. "What happened?"

"No idea, I can't get anyone,' She shrugged.

Oh great, I thought, "Ok, we need to get down to this hanger, its below us." I showed her the plans.

"Ok," Bee went to move. After some contortion on my part, that Dick will never find out about, I managed to get myself free. I crawled after BumbleBee and slid down the vent and dropped to the floor. My good lord, what had we found. My archaeological brain kicked in, but I couldn't fully date it, it wasn't anything I'd ever seen before. The room was in ruins, pillars had collapse, but in the centre was a signal pillar and a odd looking star shape carved into to the ground. But something on the far wall caught my eye, it was a beetle, that was strange. Without saying a word to BumbleBee, I snuck around amongst the rubble. I took out a scanner and scanned the wall, top to bottom, I needed to be quick, god knows what was coming. I looked over to see if any of the guards that were on computers in the far corner had seen me yet, it looked so strange to see computers in here, it was so ancient. The scanned was complete, but something else caught my eye, I crept over and peered down to a runway. "Oh no," I breathed. I jumped off my spying place on to a container, then on to the ground. I wasn't wrong in what I saw. Across the room is stasis pods were teenagers and young adults, all the ones that had been reported missing I remembered their faces. My head felt all heavy, I stumbled, wait, I never stumble, what was going on. I shook my head, come on Alex, get your act together. But the feeling got stronger, a feeling of dread came over me. This wasn't me, it was Simon, he was here, somewhere. "Arrrh!" I screamed, it felt like my head was going to be ripped apart, the pain was too much, my vision went in and out. I dropped to my knees and then my head hit off the floor heavily, and all was black.

I couldn't open my eyes or move my body, I panicked, what was going on. Get grip, I told myself, listen, remember to listen.

"What are you doing?" A voice said, "The rest of these kids are strays they won't be missed. But a Bat-Brat!"

"Batman himself is out of the picture," I knew that voice for sure, it was Simon, "And if anyone else misses her, like Nightwing, Simon says he just doesn't care." I laughed inside my head, oh pal if you think that just because Dad's off planet that you won't get your ass served to you, when Dick finds out there will be hell to pay, if they can find me. "Ok load the cargo, Bat-Brat included on to the plane. Shimmer confirm the fight plan, we need this bird in the air in ten." Simon instructed.

I heard footsteps coming towards me, "You didn't turn the stasis pod on properly," A gruff voice said. I heard buttons being pressed and then nothing.

* * *

"OWWW! What the hell!" I shouted, my breathing was ragged.

"I'm sorry girl!" BumbleBee said to me, "But we need to get out of here, and you are the only one qualified to fly this plane., we need to get the abductees to safety. It's ironic seeing as you are the only one on Alpha that can't actually fly."

"Yeah ironic," I said rubbing my chest where she'd shocked me. I sat down in the pilots seat and strapped myself in. I turned the key and switched the blades on to rotation. I heard some banging outside and shouts, but I needed to focus. I powered it forward and set the flaps on the wings. "What happened by the way?" I asked BumbleBee.

"Eh, well Cassie kicked some ass and M'gann did to, to cut a long story short, and now here we are!" She said. I felt the plane jump slightly, we were nearly ready and nearly at the end of the run way which was a cliff edge. I heard a scrapping, it was like a metal on metal sound. The dials in front of me went crazy. "What is going on?" BumbleBee asked me.

"Eh, simple answer. We have no left wing," I shouted fighting the stick trying to regain control, but there was no point. The plane hurled itself against the wall and tore off the right wing. Well this is going to be the shortest flight ever, I thought. The runway came to an end and we dropped, we dropped like a dart. I saw Cassie fly past the window and went to the nose of the plane and tried to push it back, but it was no good. I tried to think, what could we do? What was the weight of this plane, my cable couldn't hold it. But there was a deafening thud on the roof and we levelled out.

"Are you guys ok?" M'gann came through the physic link.

I rubbed my head, "Yeah but being in a stasis pod does nothing for me."

We landed the wrecked plane in the desert, I opened the door of the plane and heaved it outwards. I jumped down to the ground and my knees gave way I landed heavily in the sand. "You ok Blade?" Cassie asked me.

"Yeah I'm fine Cass, just a little tired, I'll be good to go in a minute. You wanna help get the abductees in to the BioShip?" I looked up at her, she nodded and walked back.

After a few minutes I stood and rolled my shudders, gotta get the game face on Alex, I told myself and made my way over to the BioShip. The group of abductees were out of the stasis pods and sitting down in the BioShip.

"Everyone ok?" I asked them. There were a few nods and a few 'Oh my god its Blade'. "We are going to take you back to the Hall of Justice, Black Canary is waiting there for you all, she will take names and addresses and start contacting your parents and guardians." I walked to the front and sat down, "Let's go M'gann."

* * *

Once everyone was safe with Canary we headed back to Mount Justice where Dick was waiting for us. I had to stop myself from running over to him and kissing him in front of everyone. "Welcome back, and well done, the mission was a success." He said to us.

"But Simon was there," M'gann crossed her arms.

Dick sighed, "Simon planted mental suggestion in the minds of his nurses and doctors. They've been attending an empty bed for months, I'm sorry."

"It had to happened eventually," M'gann said.

"So no sign of any Alien tech?" Dick asked.

"None, but what we found was strange enough," I thought about telling him about the chamber but I decided to wait.

"It was clear in Shimmer's mind that Queen Bee was acting as a middle man delivering abducted humans to a third party." M'gann said.

I nodded, "We questioned all the victims, most were runaways, all were kidnapped after the destruction of Malina Island."

"So if the Bialians weren't kidnapping humans for the Kroloteans, then who is this partner?" Dick rubbed the back of his head.

"Another unanswered question," Cassie sighed.

Dick gave her a faint smile, "New questions keep the investigation going forward, you saved lives, and you got each other home safely. Its a successful mission in my book. Good work Alpha."

The squad was dismissed, M'gann headed to her room while Cassie and BumbleBee headed to the Zeta Tubes to go home.

"You coming Blade?" Cassie called.

"I'll see you later guys," I waved them off. I wandered over to Dick and leaned my head against his back.

He turned to me, "You ok? I heard about the stasis pod."

I nodded, "Not exactly something I would want to relive, but I'm here now." He grinned and kissed me, my heart flipped, I ran my hand up through his hair.

He broke away from me, "Wanna go back home?" I nodded.

We made it back to the Manor and upstairs, I glanced at the clock on the way up, god it was three in the morning, missions mess up your body clock. Dick opened the door to his room, I looked at the floor, all there was was clothes everywhere, I shook my head, he seriously needed to clean. But he had other ideas. He was there behind me, so close. I turned to look up at him and gave him a smile then took off my mask. I reached up and took his from his face. His blue eyes glistened in the moon light. He pulled me to him and kissed me, my heart fluttered and soared. My hands reached to the front of his suit and found the zipper. I unzipped it and ran my hands on his bare chest, it was like a statue, but so warm. I felt his hands wind their way back to my costume and he expertly unzipped me out of it. Before I had time to get out of it fully he picked me up and my legs wrapped around his waist. I hated people picking me up, ever since I was a child I hated it, but when it was Dick I knew he wasn't going to drop me. I wrapped my legs tight and hung on as he kissed my neck and chest. I arched my back and ran my hand through his thick black hair. I kissed his neck and jaw then whispered in his ear, "Bed." He nodded.

He let me down on to his bed, it was unmade but what did I care at this point. He lay over me, his hair flopping in to his eyes, I laughed and brushed it away slightly. He lowered himself and kissed me again, everywhere, I moaned in pleasure and laughed kissing his neck. I breathed in his smell it was like home to me, any time I was upset or angry just breathing in his smell made everything better and after that mission I needed it. He kissed down my body, I squirmed, it tickled. Then I decided to make some calls. I flicked my leg around his and tugged. He was flat on his back in seconds and I sat over him pinning his arms to his sides with my legs.

"Hey no fair! No martial arts in bed!" Dick protested.

"Hush," I whispered and kissed him lightly on the lips. I kissed down his chest to the base of his torso, teasing him, I felt him squirm and tremble at each kiss. I grinned, so this is why Poison Ivy enjoyed this power so much. The usual chatty and big mouthed Dick Grayson was silent.

"Enough," he grunted and sat up grabbing me. I let out a yelp as he turned me again.

I made a face, "Not fair, you're stronger than me."

Dick grinned as he kissed me, "Thank god, imagine the trouble I'd be in if you were."

I rolled my eyes, "Shut up."

A while later we lay beside each other breathing heavily. Dick's chest was glistening with sweat and his hair was even messier than usual, I smiled but I wondered how awful I looked. I kissed his chest and nestled into his body, his strength and power keeping me safe. I heard his breathing get deeper, he was fast asleep. I smiled, but my mind began to wander, there were so many unanswered questions. I shook my head trying to get the images away, Dad on another planet, his life was depending on the mercy of people he didn't know, and we were left here, with this unknown darkness that was slowly seeping in.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: Hi guys, hope you enjoy this one, let me know what you all think! **

* * *

A few weeks had pasted since the mission to Qurac and we were no closer to answers, but one thing had emerged, Roy Harper, the real one. Some how while we were on the mission in Qurac, Red Arrow had tracked Roy down in a Tibetan monastery, he was frozen on ice but alive, he was now in hospital in Star City. I stood in the main hall of Mount Justice with Dick, we were trying to decipher the Krolotean intel that we had gathered from Malina Island, the computer was just finishing up.

"Hey, you almost got it?" Tim asked walking in with Garfield.

"Nearly there, apparently the the Kroloteans were snatching humans to use as guinea pigs, they were hoping to find something, something inside us." Dick looked over the screen.

Tim raised an eye brow, "But what is it?"

I shook my head, "There's no English word for it. The nearest translation in metta-gene."

"What's a metta-gene?" Tim looked confused.

"Never met-a-Jean I didn't like," Garfield joked.

"Warning, unknown energy impulse detected." The computer called out. I swiped the screens making them disappear then drew my swords. A ball of electricity appeared in centre of the room, it looked like lighting gathering together, what was it going to do, and who was it?

"Get behind me and Blade," Dick told the other two, I stood beside him, we were both poised and ready for a fight, nothing was going to get past us. Right before my eyes this thing appeared from the lightening, it was a large metal pod. It landed with a thunk on the floor. I looked at Dick, he nodded, I raised my swords. Steam came from the pod and there was a hiss as they opened on their hydraulics. I saw something move, it was familiar but I didn't know from where. Suddenly this kid jumped out, he was dressed in a suit, red and white, with goggles and The Flash symbol on the side of them.

"Ta Da!" He said and threw his arms out, like he was expecting applause. I lowered my swords, what was going on? I was so confused.

"Intruder alert. Intruder alert." The computer rang out.

"Computer, lock down cave," Dick commanded.

"Well I guess we found out the unknown energy impulse," I motioned to the newcomer.

"Impulse? That's so crash! Catching, dramatic, one word," The newbie said at about 100 miles an hour, he darted over to us, "Like Nightwing, Blade, Robin, Beast Boy. Oh wait that's two words. Blue Beatle is two words, is he here? Never mind Impulse can find that out for himself." He just took off down the corridor.

"You two, take him down, now!" Dick commanded Tim and Garfield, they took off after him, "Blade, you stay here, we can corner him off." I nodded. I ran to the far entrance from the kitchen and stood ready, I heard him screech around the corner, I got some capsules out of my belt and threw them, he dodged them as I knew he would.

"Haha you can't catch me that easily!" He laughed, "Ugh!' he buckled when Dick came out of nowhere and punched him straight in the stomach. He was down, I ran over and cuffed his feet while Dick cuffed his hands.

"Now that was crash," Dick said to him.

"For you maybe, but I'm totally feeling the mode," He groaned. We picked him up and sat him down on a bench.

Tim and Garfield came back. I stood with them while Dick went off to get something. "So you're a tourist from the future?" I asked.

"Why so surprised? Half the meat at Comin-Con are from my era," Impulse shrugged. I raised my eye brow, was he serious. "Hey look we should be friends, I'm one of you, part of the heroic legacy right? My name is Bart Allan, ya know grandson of Barry Allan? The Flash?"

"Noted, not believed, but noted," Garfield crossed his arms.

"What's not to believe? I've clearly got Flash's speed, his amazing good looks, frankly I can't wait to meet him! Eh I mean when he was in his prime." He smiled.

Dick walked back in carrying a glass of water, "Well Bart, after all that traveling you must be thirsty." He held the glass to Bart's lips and let him take a few gulps.

"Oh, ah! You're trying to get a DNA sample, you need my spit," He spat in to the glass, "Ha that's such a Dick Grayson thing to do."

Dick stood back in shock, and my jaw dropped, how did he know Dick's name!

"How did…?" Tim looked at us.

"See I know stuff only a future boy would know," He nodded to us individually, "Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Garfield Logan and Alex Grayson-Wayne."

"What?!" I shouted.

"Oh! Sorry! Spoilers!" Bart cringed and then gave me a small smile, I didn't know whether to hit him or hug him.

"Wait, your names Tim, and yours is Dick, and Alex?" Garfield looked at us all, I think he was expecting better names or something.

"Sorry this secret identity thing is so retro to me. You can call me Bart or Impulse or Bart Impulse Allan, its all crash." He shrugged.

I looked up a Dick, "Do you think he is telling the truth? Could he be from the future?"

Garfield stepped forward to Bart and leaned down, "Tell us something we don't know yet. When do I become leader of the Team? When do I join the Justice League? When do I get my own reality series?"

"Sorry BB, never was the best history student, besides I given away enough spoilers, and if I say anymore then I can alter the time stream and if I do that then we're all feeling the mode." Bart looked up at him.

"And the mode is bad?" Garfield looked confused.

"Doesn't get any worse, always better to crash the mode," Bart nodded.

"Eh, noted," Garfield stepped back, I felt sorry for him, it looked like his head was about to explode, and come to think of it mine wasn't too far off.

"Recognised, Malcolm Duncan A10." The computer read out.

"Ooo, sounds like a door opening somewhere," Bart looked around, "And that's my cue." He started to shake and he was out of the cuffs, I forgot how The Flash can shake his molecules and get out of things, I could have kicked myself, Bart had the same power. He took off towards the open door, there was nothing we could do.

Garfield changed form in to a peregrine falcon, one of the fastest birds in the world and high tailed it after him.

"He isn't going to catch him is he?" Tim said.

"Nope, Impulse is too fast," I said. Dick was already at the computer tracking something, I looked at it, it was Impulse, "Did you make him drink a tracker?" Dick nodded, "Nice!"

"He is heading for Central City, I better make a call," Dick went to ring Wally and Barry to warn them. Now that things were slowing back down again I took a minute to think over just happened, I wandered into the kitchen and grabbed a coke from the fridge then sat down on a stool by the breakfast bar. Bart had said it as clear as day, my heart raced, Grayson-Wayne. Foot steps broke my thoughts, I felt hands on my waist and lips kissed my neck.

"Hi," I turned to Dick, he smiled, "Well that was different, he certainly is going to be one to manage." I sighed.

"Alex," Dick said, I knew that tone, he was serious, "I think we need to talk about the elephant in the room. What Bart said?"

I nodded and turned to him, my legs slotted in between his as he stood, he place his hands on my shoulders, "Yeah I know."

"So?" He looked down at me.

"Dick, I love you, you know that, but just what he said startled me a bit," I took a breath.

"The Grayson-Wayne? I know babe, I was a little shocked too," He reassured me.

"Not that I don't want to be with you, just hearing my future kinda scared me. It isn't totally natural, but what we do isn't exactly normal." I looked at my feet.

Dick took my chin and lifted my head up to look at him, "What's this? Alex Wayne scared?" I shoved him and he smiled, "It's ok, I love you too, but we aren't at whereever Bart is from just yet. Can we move on?" I nodded and pulled him down kissing him. He always knew just what to say.

"Thanks," I smiled up at him.

He shrugged, "Hey, I don't want you running off, because knowing you, it would be every hard to find you."

I laughed, "Yeah, hide-and-go-seek champion every year when we were kids."

He rolled his eyes, "Yeah well when the entire of Gotham is involved its sorta hard."

I kissed him lightly on the lips and stood up, "I always managed to find you." I walked back into the main hall and saw Malcolm typing away at the computer.

"I see that whatever just ran past me has made it to Central City, why didn't you guys follow? Wouldn't you like a trip back home Blade?" Malcolm asked me.

"I haven't been in Central City since I was nine Mal, Gotham's home now," I smiled at him, but memories of my rocky childhood crept back up, I shook my head trying to get them away.

"Well I warned Wally, so hopefully he gets this under control," Dick said walking in after me, putting a hand on my shoulder. When the rest of the Team weren't here he was more affectionate, but once everyone was here we both agreed that it was unprofessional. "So Mal, is there anything that needs our attention?" He asked.

Mal shook his head, "Nothing boss, just keeping an eye on this new Impulse, otherwise everything is quiet for once."

Dick's hand traced down to my hand and he turned me to him, "Wanna head home? Catch a movie? Actually be some what normal?" I nodded, in this life you can't pass up the opportunity.

* * *

We made it back to Gotham in no time. I stepped out of the Zeta Tube and took a breath, ah Gotham. Even though we had a lot of bad days, you just wanted to hug the city for being so imperfect. It wasn't all shiny like Metropolis or cutting edge like Central City, it was grimy, dirty, old and abandoned building hung open like wounds, not a week went by without multiple shootings or a murder. But it was my Gotham, my wonderfully twisted city. I smiled as Dick came out of the Zeta Tube. "What's that grin about?" He asked.

"Just happy to be here," I told him and shot a cable into the sky. I flew upwards and the skyline appeared before my eyes. I landed on the roof of a building and heard Dick land behind me. I turned to him and kissed him. He staggered backwards slightly but caught me. I grinned and broke away. Before he could reacted I looked up at him, "Come on Nightwing, keep up!" I leapt off the building and down to the next, flipping and jumping. It was good to be back.

We were nearly home when I heard something, it was an annoyingly familiar cackle. I followed the noise and sighed. Not again. I landed on the ground and leaned against the wall of the building and crossed my arms. There was some scuffling and talking inside the shop front and then she emerged, "Really Harley, haven't we talked before?"

She jumped when she saw me, "Aw Blade, come on, give a girl a break will ya? I ain't doing anything that bad really?"

I sighed, "You're breaking into a shop and stealing cash, that's pretty bad in my book. And where's Joker?"

"Aw Mister J is still locked up, they let me go, well that's what I'm saying. But I couldn't get my poor Mister J." She hung her hand.

Dick landed behind her, "Hello Harley, you wanna put that back now? I'm sure Blade has explained."

Harley whipped around, "Why hello there bird boy, I forget how much you've grown," She stood close to him and pouted, tracing her finger up his chest, my blood began to boil, but Dick didn't flinch. "Come on, why so stern? You're starting to act like Bats, all tense. Realx puddin," She leaned up and kissed him. Dick's eyes went wide in shock. That was it, I was over this conversation. I shot a line at her leg and it wrapped around and I pulled. Her lips were torn from Dick's and she almost crashed her face against the pavement. "Ow! Watch it brat!" She squealed, "Me and Birdy were only havin a little fun."

I was so angry I couldn't speak, I picked Harley up off the ground and punched her hard in the stomach. She fell to the pavement but sprung back up smiling, she held a finger up to me and dodged into the shop, seconds later she emerged. I drew my swords, as she swung her favourite thing; that godforsaken mallet. I dodged the swing and hit her with the broad side of one of my swords, then flipped over her and kicked her legs out from under her. I had the cuffs on her in seconds. She looked up at me, "I was wrong, you're more like Bats then puddin over there, you hurt."

"Yeah yeah, back to Arkham Harley," I rolled my eyes, then turned to walked past Dick, and shot a line up on to a building.

He followed me, "Well done, you made it look easy."

I stopped in my tacks and turned to face him, he looked a little shocked, "You are lucky that I don't stick these swords in you Dick Grayson, what were you thinking?"

"Hey, I'm sorry, you know what Harley's like," He reached out and took my shoulders, I tensed, "I am sorry babe, honestly." I looked up at him, he looked terrified at what I might do or say next.

I relaxed my stance, "Just wash your mouth out with soap before you come near me."

I sat down on the couch in the sitting room and flicked on the TV, I was still warm from my shower and my wet hair stuck to my shirt like dark ink. I heard the door open and then a shout.

"My goodness! Miss Alexandra1 I didn't expect you back yet," Alfred tried to regain some composure.

I turned to him, "I'm sorry Alfred! We had a little break so came home, Dick's having a shower upstairs."

"Not to worry would you like something to eat?" He asked, I nodded and thanked him. I turned my attention back to the TV, the news was pretty much the same as it always was, but then I looked at the clock and date on the screen. My heart jumped then plummeted, it couldn't be that day already, it was the 12th. I swallowed hard. What you need to understand is that we have a dirty secret in the Bat Family that no one knows about apart from us. Tim wasn't Robin straight after Dick, there was another, Jason Todd. He was a punk kid that Dad found in an alley, taking the wheels off the Batmobile. He took him in, Dick and I tried to welcome him in, he was quiet young, but all he wanted was the glory of the fight. He unnerved me when we went out on patrol, enjoying taking down the criminals, laughing at their pain. I had told Dad but he said nothing. But about 3 years ago, we were out on patrol, Dick and I were over on the far side of Gotham, Jason was meant to go with us but insisted on leaving us. We got a call over the radio, something had happened. Jason was gone. We searched for days and we couldn't find him. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat, it was my fault, I shouldn't have let him go. But one evening we got a call, Jason was in a warehouse on the docks. I don't think I have ever crossed the city that fast in my life, Dick couldn't keep up. I landed on the opposite building and I saw someone leave. I had gotten out my binoculars and nearly got sick. Joker was leaving the warehouse laughing to himself. In his hand was a crow bar, and it was dripping with blood, Jason's blood. I felt my vision narrow, he was going to pay. I leapt off the building and headed to the warehouse, but a cable wrapped around my waist and pulled me back. I screamed at who ever was pulling me. I pawed at the air as I flew back towards the building I jumped from. Just as I was almost at the top, a noise tore through the air and a blinding light flashed. A wave of heat knocked me back on to the roof where I had landed heavily on my back. I scrambled to my feet and saw the warehouse burn and crumble, I sank to my knees, that bastard Joker, he had laced it with explosives. Jason, poor Jason, he was gone. I rose and tried to get back to the warehouse, he might be ok, but something held me back. "Batgirl, Batgirl, come on now," Dad's voice called to me, I looked up, he was holding me. Tears streamed down my face and I buried my head in Dad's chest. Poor Jason. A sound brought me back to reality, I jumped.

"You ok?" Dick asked, "I had a shower, Harley is all off me. Wait, Alex, are you ok?" He sat down beside me, I motioned to the TV, Dick took in a sharp breath, "Oh my god, of course." He wrapped me in a hug, "It's ok Alex."

"No it's not," I sobbed, "It's my fault, I should have made sure he stayed with us."

"Hush now," Dick told me, "There is no way you could have made him, you know what he was like, head strong, stubborn and violent. He as going to do what he liked, there was nothing, you, me or Bruce could have done." He rocked me back and forward and kissed my head. Eventually there was no more tears left, Dick's t-shirt was damp from my sobbing. I broke from his arms and wiped my eyes with my sleeve. I was going to say something, but my phone buzzed in my pocket.

"Hello? Hi Mal, yeah of course we'll be there," I hung up, "Well Impulse managed to nearly blow up Central City and yet save it and save Flash's life, they're heading back to the Cave now, we need to meet them there." I stood up and took a breath, ok Alex, get it together there are other things to worry about now, I told myself.

We made our way down to the Batcave and I pulled on my suit. I strapped my new Katana swords on my back, they were much lighter then the other ones Dad had made for me, and I needed light. Dick was over by the Zeta Tube we had in the cave, you could only Zeta out not in, Dad wanted it that way. I walked over but looked up at Tim who was coming down the stairs. He had a bag on his back and was in his workout gear, but his nose was stuck in a book.

"Tim we're off, we'll be back in a while. Don't disappear," I warned him.

"Yeah I got it, gonna to do some training here," He put the comic he was reading back in his bag, I got a glimpse at the cover.

"Really Tim, he is hardly a role model," I cocked an eye brow.

He hugged the bag in mock shock, "How dare you. Deadpool is a genius, and never speak against him."

I laughed and waved my hand. I walked to the Zeta Tube, back to Mount Justice, god only knows what we are going to find, I told myself. "Recognised Blade B05, Nightwing B01." We walked out and into the cave, standing there was Barry Allan, his adopted father Jay Garrick, I saw Wally he was back in the Kid Flash suit, Impulse stood twitching in the centre of the group. Malcolm had already ran tests on the pod that Bart had arrived in. Dick looked over them and some other tests that he had ran, "Impulse's DNA matches with both Iris and you Barry. And this thing is giving off both Zeta and Cronatron radiation."

"Which is, based on pure theory, what would radiate off a Time Machine," I told them.

Barry put a hand on Bart's shoulder, "Which means you're exactly who you say you are."

"Ha! Told ya!" Impulse laughed, "Anyway its been crash, but the future awaits! I gotta run!" There was a resounding groan at the pun, "See what I did there with the run?" Barry walked over to him, it must be so strange for him, actually seeing a relative from the future. Bart lifted the door of the pod, "As for you Gramps.."

"Bart thanks for coming," Barry cut in, "I look forward to meeting you again for the first time and watching you grow up."

Bart smiled and hugged Barry, "That will be crash." He slid into the pod and shut the door.

I smiled up at Dick and he took my hand. We waited for the lighting to start, but nothing came. There wasn't even the sound of an engine starting.

Suddenly the door of the pod was kicked open again and Bart jumped out, "It's not working! The whole things fried!" He kicked it in annoyance.

"Can you fix it?" I asked.

"I'm a tourist, not a Cronal expert! I'm trapped in the stupid past! Uh I'm so moded." He threw his arms up in defeat. Over the next hour we sorted him out; he was going to stay with Jay and his wife Joan in Central City and become part of the team. Once we'd seen them off, it was just Dick, Malcolm and me left in the Cave. I sighed, Dick saw my body language change and left Mal at the computer.

He walked over and pulled me to him, "Long day huh? You wanna go home? Maybe finally get that movie?"

I nodded, "Defiantly, but if I see Harley, Ivy, Catwoman, anyone I am walking straight past and you better to Grayson."

He laughed and kissed me, "I swear it." He looked over at Mal, "Hey we're going, you got this?" Mal waved us out.

After the movie we crashed at home, I crawled into bed beside him and lay on his chest. I closed my eyes listening to his heart and breath, in and out, thump, thump-thump. Sleep took me, but Impulse kept coming into my mind. I remembered back, something fast, but why the blue?


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: Hi guys! Enjoy this one, remember to review and let me know what you think! **

* * *

I sat crossed legged on a balance pole in the Batcave, I had just finished training, my Katana swords hung on my back. I sighed, and looked around, it was quiet, so quiet. I closed my eyes and centred myself, images flashed through my mind, Impulse, Dick, Dad, Tim, The Team. I shook my head getting them out, I couldn't cloud my mind, it need to be clear. I heard foot steps on the stairs, Dick was walking in, I was going to hop down from the pole and go and say hi. But he looked concerned, he didn't see me. I stayed completely still, and watched. Dick went to the computer and logged on, he typed away and then waited, he rubbed a hand through his hair and tensed his jaw, he only made that move when he was stressed and worried. A call suddenly came through the computer, I nearly fell off the pole, I never thought that Dick would call Kaldur, the traitor!

"Kaldur, how does it go?" Dick asked.

Kaldur shook his head, "Not well, they are making a move tomorrow on the new communications link to Mars in Florida. You need to be there."

Dick nodded, "Of course I will bring the Team. Stay safe Kaldur."

"I will. Oh and Dick, we need to execute Plan T, tomorrow." Kaldur told him.

Dick sighed, "I will make the call, Wally isn't going to be happy." He signed off.

My heart was pounding, I could hear it in my ears, my blood boiled, I don't think I had ever been so angry. I leapt off the pole and landed on the ground, "What the hell was that?!" I shouted. "You were talking to Kaldur, a traitor and planning something?"

Dick whipped around, his eyes were wide with shock, "Alex I ….."

"You didn't what? Didn't know I was here? You lied to me Dick, lied to my face!" I was inches from him, "Explain!" I slapped him straight across the face, "And do it quickly or else the Katana's are coming out."

Dick turned to look at me, he was choosing his words, "Kaldur is undercover, he isn't truly with Black Manta. He is there trying find out who the partners are of The Light. Please, I only kept this from you to…"

"To protect me?" I finished, "Now you're starting to sound like Dad! I thought we we're a team Dick, partners, boyfriend and girlfriend. But now, I don't know…."

Dick walked forward and took my shoulders, "Please, please Alex, I had to, it was the only way." I looked up at him, the man I thought I knew, doubt swam around my head.

"Who else knows?" I asked quietly.

"No one, just me and Kaldur and now you." He asked looking down at me, reading my expression.

My blood was still racing, but the rage was dying, "So this is why you've been acting weird?" He nodded. I shook my head and shrugged him off, "I can't Dick, I just…" I turned and ran, I grabbed my mask and leapt on to a bike, I kicked it into life.

"Alex! Come back!" Dick shouted. But I drowned him out with the noise of the engine. The bike roared out of the Batcave, I flew towards Gotham and parked the bike in an alley. I thought I might have calmed down but I was wrong, he lied to me, I thought we had trust between us. I jumped up on to a fence then shot a line to the top of Gotham Central Bank, next to Wayne Towers it was one of the tallest buildings in Gotham. I retracted the line and stood, my blood was still raging, everything in my body want to go and hurt something or someone, that's why I had ran from the Batcave, I even though I hated Dick right now, I didn't want to hurt him. I'd just have to find someone else. I stood over the city, looking down as the sun set and lights turned on, dotting the city with light. A noise broke my raging thoughts. I spun on my heel, "What are you doing here?" I hissed.

"Oh, well well, that isn't the greatest attitude to have little bat," Catwoman purred.

"What what attitude should I have?" I asked sarcastically.

She walked over, her heels clicked on the ground and she twisted her whip in her hand, "A more relaxed one think," I tensed, "Or maybe not? Do I sense a disturbance in the young Bat?"

She was annoyingly close to me now, prowling around me, "Nothing that I can't handle." I made a fist and tensed it, try not to punch her, I told myself.

"Oh but of course, you are just the image of your father some times, you know that Alex?" She whispered in my ear.

I froze, "What did you say?"

"Oh come on now, me and your Dad go way back. I know who he is and who you are and the rest for that matter. I won't say a word, but whoever you are mad it, don't be." She looked into my eyes.

"Why not?" I asked, "He…. he lied."

"Who lied? Oh Nightwing? You and him having a little domestic? Ah little girl, don't worry. You'll both work it out," She gave me a smile. I wanted to believe her I did, but this was something beyond her she had no right. She leaned in to my ear, and put her finger on my jaw, "Give the pretty boy another chance, let him explain whatever he did, he's so handsome how could you say no?" She brushing her finger along my jaw line to my chin, "Ta ta little Bat."

I looked after her, "Bye Selina."

She stopped but didn't turn, "Father like Daughter," She mumbled and leapt off the roof.

I prowled around the city for most of the night, but nothing was happening. I had to face the fact that I would have to go home. I rode the bike back at a sedate pace. I parked up and took off my helmet and mask, shaking my hair loose. I took my Katana swords off my back and lay them on the table.

"I was waiting for you to take those off," Dick appeared out of the darkness.

I looked at him he must have waited here all night worrying, I could see it in his eyes, "Well there was nothing out there so don't count your blessings just yet." I motioned to the swords.

Dick gulped, but stayed where he was, "Look, I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am for not telling you, with Bruce gone and the Team, and you helping Tim, I just thought that you had enough on your plate."

My whole heart softened, "Dick, I…. What you're doing, keeping all this to yourself, it isn't healthy. I want to help you, let me!" I walked over to him and took his arm, he flinched, I gave him a reassuring smile, "You try so hard to be the rock of this family, always laughing something off, making us feel better, but what about you? Lean on me, I can handle it."

He coughed, "Alex, I'm sorry.." He looked down at me, those big blue eye brimming with tears. I leaned up and kissed him, he wrapped his arms around me and held me close to him.

"It's ok," I whispered in his ear, "Just in future, don't keep things from me." I felt him nod and I kissed his neck. "Now I'm going to bed, I need sleep before this mission tomorrow you were talking about to Kaldur, which I am helping you with by the way, but you are more then welcome to join me upstairs."

* * *

"They are both gonna wind up our responsibly aren't they?" I said looking up at the screen where picture of Bart Allan and the original Roy Harper on the computer screen.

"Not necessarily," Dick sighed, "Bart, Impulse, is staying with Jay and Joan Garrick in Central City. Roy, Speedy, is recovering in Royal Memorial Hospital in Star City, both Green and Red Arrows are watching over him."

"Yeah, our responsibility," I mumbled.

"Doesn't everything?" Conor answered to my left. "Where are we in identifying The Light's new partner?"

"No progress," Dick sighed and reached up with his hand and pinched either side of his nose, he was getting a headache again, all the stress was getting to him. I walked over and put my hand on his back and squeezed his shoulder.

Laughter floated up from towards the kitchen, M'gann and La'gaan were walking towards us, I saw Conor tense. "'La'gaan! Don't eat so fast." She laughed.

"I can't help it angelfish, the idea of cooking crabs is amazing enough, but making them in to little cakes," He said taking another.

"You're going to choke," She warned.

"If only," Conor muttered.

M'gann picked up a cake, "Here let me," and fed him one. I cringed, that was a little over the top I thought.

"Hmmm if that's not true love, I don't know what is," La'gaan said eyeing up Conor. Yeah La'gaan anger the beast, I thought, I felt Dick take my hand, he knew what Conor could do.

"Call me when its time for the briefing," Conor said and began to walk out.

But the computer cut in to any further conversation, "Recognised Artemis B07."

"Time for the briefing," Dick called out to Conor.

I ran over to Artemis, and hugged her, "Its so good to see you!"

"Hi Blade! And M'gann! How have you been?" She smiled at us. It was so good to see her again, I had missed her so much since she and Wally and left the team, we had gone to the same school when we were kids, but now everything had changed, especially after today. Everyone came over and greeted her, Dick stood behind me and I reached back and touched his arm in reassurance.

"Ok Gamma squad listen up, the mission is in Cape Canaveral, covert op to safe guard the first Earth-Mars com sat, there are people out there that don't even like the idea of Aliens and will do anything to stop this launch." Dick told us.

Artemis put her hand on M'gann's shoulder, "But that's why I came back because not everyone feels that way."

"So why are you going?" Mal asked Dick.

Dick straightened his Gauntlets on his arms, "Well lets say after running this Team for a year I'm peckish for a little action." I looked at the ground, we had to keep it together, that wasn't the real reason why Dick was going. After our big fight the night before, he told me what the plan was; Artemis would go undercover with Kaldur to find out about the Light, she would be going as Tigress, a right hand to Kaldur, or so they thought. But the worst was to come, we had to fake Artemis's death to get her undercover. I had to wipe away a tear when Dick told me, he had been carrying this on his own for so long, but no anymore, we were in this together.

Artemis and I chatted while M'gann flew the Bioship to Cape Canaveral, we caught up on what was going in each others life, she told me how Wally was still always late to his classes and how she had to pick up the slack. There was so much I wanted to tell her, to tell her I knew, but there was no way I could. Instead I told her about Dick and me, how we were coping without Dad and mundane things in College. Gamma Squad spilt up in two Teams; to cover the fact that Superman and J'onn were around, M'gann and Conor had to cover for them. Dick, Artemis and I were stationed on a platform, while La'gaan was solo covering the water.

I put away my binoculars and walked over to Dick, I put my hand on his back but he jumped slightly, "Shush," I whispered, then looked out over the bay, "Well at least we have a nice view."

I walked over to the edge of the platform and smiled at Artemis, "So how was Wally with all this? Putting back on the uniform?"

She grinned and fingered a fletching of an arrow, "Yeah he wasn't too happy about this. You know we are trying to set up a life of our own, but as soon as Nightwing called I couldn't resist. He thinks that once I get a taste for it again, the mask, the fighting, that I wouldn't be able to give it up again. Keep the mask until the day I die."

I saw Dick smile slightly, "Yeah I get that feeling." He said. "Ok M'gann establish the physic like please. Everyone in position?" We got the okay from the team. It was now a waiting game.

About 45 minutes past when La'gaan's voice came in through the physic link, "Eh listen up, I just found out that we have a squadron of Manta soldiers down here."

Just peachy I thought, "Superboy get down and help La'gaan," I ordered. I heard Conor grumble in my head as he went to look for a re-breather.

"Eh I would love if my AngelFish came down to help me," La'gann asked.

Dick grinned, "Negative La'gann, we need her in the air."

Conor cut into the conversation, "Well it looks like M'gann is going to have to go, someone forgot to restock the re-breathers, La'gann!"

"Reconfiguring the BioShip for manual flight," M'gann said, and leapt out in to the sea to help La'gann.

"Wow, that's a little awkward!" Artemis said.

"You have no idea," I told her, "When they all start going at each others throats, I wish you were still here Artemis."

The peace didn't last long, "I have to make a move, they are going to blow the rocket," La'gann shouted.

My heart started to race, we needed to try and help, "Belay that Lagoon Boy! Wait for…"

"Teeerr kkeee tteerrr, sorry I'm loosing you," La'gann's voice came through.

"There's no static on the physic link," I shouted, Dick looked at me, it was now or never. I shot a cable down to the beach, I hooked on and zip lined down, Manta soldiers were already firing shots at us, Artemis and Dick followed. We landed by the wall, and ducked down. But something caught my eye, a sign that read "Blast Wall: Must be on the other side to avoid incineration."

"Ok, we need to over the wall guys," I pointed to the sign.

"Lets go then!" Artemis shouted, she made a move to leap over the wall, Dick grabbed her leg and pulled her back as bullets rained down upon her.

"I know you're a little rusty but try not and get yourself killed," Dick hissed at her. My heart gave a small pang when Dick spoke, I knew what was to come.

I had an idea, the helmets of the Manta troops were sensitive to light. "Artemis, shoot a flare into the sky, they won't be able to see." She nodded and cocked the arrow taking aim and letting it fly into the sky. The flare burst and the light was blinding against the dark sky. Shouts and screams came from the Manta troopers, "Go now!" I yelled.

We leapt over the wall, I looked at Dick, the fight was on. The Manta troopers looked at me, some of them grinning. "Ah looky here lads, this pretty thing has swords, wonder can she use them?" One of the soldiers jeered.

I raised my eye brow and unsheathed my swords, "Come and get it." They fired shots at me, but I blocked them with the blades, they bounced off the metal, sparks flaring in the dark night. I grinned and made my move; I flipped over their heads and swiped the blades across the back of their legs and severed their ham strings, they collapsed on the ground. To my right Dick was engaged in hand to hand combat with three troopers. Artemis was handling herself well, but there was a trooper she didn't see. I took my dagger from the strap on my leg, "Artemis!" I shouted and threw the dagger, she ducked and the dagger landed straight into the troopers leg. "Watch you back!" I said to her and ran over to help. The Manta troopers fell at our feet, it looked like it was almost over. But something coming out of the water, it was Kaldur, oh god. I glanced over at Dick, but Artemis was the nearest to him.

"No," I breathed.

Artemis ran at Kaldur, "You traitor!" She shouted.

Kaldur took up his water swords and blocked Artemis's attack. But Artemis was too slow. Kaldur's second sword went straight threw her, "Welcome back," He hissed in her ear.

"No!" I screamed, and Dick and I sprinted over to her. She fell back on the ground, I drew my swords and stood in front of them. An explosion went up in the sky; the satellite! I looked up, it had blown to pieces. We had failed. But I looked at the ground, Artemis. Dick was doing CPR and trying to revive her, Conor and M'gann landed beside us, I heard M'gann gasped and let out a choking cry. I didn't know what to think, my eyes switched from Dick, to Artemis, to M'gann, I knew what was happening but I needed to act, and act well.

"I don't hear her heart beat," Conor said. We had accounted for his super-hearing, Artemis had taken a powder that my Dad had made up in the cave, it fakes death and stops the heart beat, but only for an hour or so.

Dick sat up and looked at me then to the group, "She's dead."

He stood up and I went over to him, he hugged me close, I cried, there was nothing else I could do, even though I knew that Artemis wasn't dead. I cried for what the Team would have to go through now, losing someone they loved.

"Where is La'gann?" Dick asked M'gann and Conor.

M'gann's amber eyes were brimming with tears, "They took him, the Black Manta core, they have La'gann."

* * *

Once the Team made it back to the Cave everyone was in mourning, tears flowed down cheeks and tissues were past around. I slipped away from the ground and over to the Zeta Tubes, I emerged in Bludhaven, Gotham's sister city. I walked out on to the docks and looked across the bay Gotham stood lit like a beacon, and compared to Bludhaven it was a beacon of hope. Bludhaven was Dick's new pet project, he had a loft here and a warehouse that he spent time in, it was nice to get away from Dad when he was in Gotham. I walked in to the warehouse and down the aisles of boxes and spotted Dick. I saw he had the computer on his gauntlet open and there was a photo, it was of Dick, Artemis and I when I was about 13, we had taken the picture and surprised Artemis. I walked up behind him and kissed his neck, "We're gonna laugh about this some day." I said and motioned at the picture.

Dick nodded and sighed, "If only." I heard footsteps, Dick turned off the computer, "Wally?" He called out.

"Not quite," A familiar voice answered, it was Kaldur. He spotted me, and stood back in shock, "What is she doing here?"

"She?" I raised an eye brow, "She is here because I found out your little secret."

"How?" He stared at me.

I waked closer to him and patted him on the shoulder, "My Dads Batman Kal, I find things out."

"You knew?" Another voice came into the warehouse, Artemis.

I ran over to her and hugged her tightly, "I did and I'm so sorry for not telling you, I just couldn't."

"It's ok Alex, it's ok," She said fighting back the tears.

Dick put his and on my shoulder and guided me away, "We need to get down to business."

Kaldur nodded and began speaking, "So I take it our rouse was successful?"

"Almost too successful, the Team and the League are in mourning, they may never forgive us," Dick sighed.

"And still only we four, now five," Kaldur nodded at me, "Know the secret?"

I nodded, "Yes this and that you are undercover in the Black Manta core since leaving the Team, how is that going by the way?"

"Successful as well. I have proven my loyalty to my biological father, he is moving me up the ranks bringing me closer to The Light and their unknown partner." Kaldur informed.

"Not without cost Kaldur, the Com-stat wasn't meant to be destroyed, and La'gann defiantly wasn't meant to be captured." Dick sounded exasperated at this point, the stress was getting to him.

"It was the only way to save his life and maintain my cover," Kaldur defended himself.

Dick sighed and relaxed his stance, "I'm not blaming you, I know that you've been forced to make impossible decisions, like closing between saving the Kroloteans on Malina Island….."

"Or saving my friends," Kaldur finished. Wow, I thought, poor Kal, I had no idea that Malina was he call.

"So what now?" Artemis asked, her hand tightly bound in Wally's.

Dick reached in to his pocket and took out a necklace, it was a simple yellow jewel on a black string. He tied it around Artemis's neck and stood back.

"Eh dude, why are you giving bling to my dead girlfriend?" Wally asked Dick.

"Glamour charm," Dick said smiling, "Courtesy of Zatana, phyiso-morphic spell I think, she said it backwards."

We all stood back and looked at Artemis, she looked exactly the same, was Zantana ripping him off? "She looks the same," I said narrowing my eyes a little to see if that changed anything.

"To all of us, and only us," Dick said, "But to anyone else you are an entirely different person."

"The more impressive trick is how you got something so specific from Zatana, without revealing who or what it was for," Artemis questioned, and I sorta wanted the answer too.

"We have a history," Dick shrugged.

"You dog," Wally elbowed him, but immediately stopped the jock celebration when I gave him a look from hell. Before Dick and I officially started going out, he briefly dated Zatana. I knew that Dick would never cheat on me, but I always got a bit annoyed when he went off on missions with her.

"It is time," Kaldur said looking at his watch.

Wally walked over to Artemis and kissed her, "What could go wrong?" She grinned.

"Don't say that," Wally gave a small laugh. Dick put his hand on Wally's shoulder. Kaldur and Artemis walked away out of the warehouse, I saw her glance back at us as we left, I gave her a faint smile and felt a tear fall down my cheek.

* * *

We made it back to the Batcave soon after we said goodbye to Wally, I hadn't the heart to go back and face the Team. I unstrapped my Katana swords from my back ant lay them on the table. I place both hands on the edge and just looked down I felt so lost.

"Hey, are you alright?" Dick asked taking his mask off.

I looked up at him,"Why did it have to be Artemis? Why not me? She was out of this game Dick, we're still in it." I was getting angry, I could feel my blood running high, it wasn't fair on either Wally or Artemis, what if something happened?

"Shush," He whispered and pulled me into a hug, "You couldn't have gone."

"Why? You didn't want to risk me, but Artemis is ok?" I said into his chest.

"No, I couldn't send you because you are still an active member, people see Blade all the time, Artemis has been inactive for years, people would know if Blade was missing, and people would know if Bruce Wayne's daughter was missing along with Bruce Wayne," He kissed the top of my head, "You understand?" I nodded, as much as I hated to admit it he had a point, he had thought this through, but why did that surprise me?

"Ok, you guys both know that you have the choice of two rooms upstairs or a loft in Bludhaven? Please go there." Tim came down the stairs theatrically shielding his eyes from us. I laughed, way to kill a moment kid. "They're showing The Hobbit in the Savoy, you guys wanna come? I heard about Artemis, might take your minds off it of awhile." He gave us a small smile, I knew he was mourning her too.

Dick clapped his hands, "Sounds like a solid plan, lets get changed and head out, maybe we can have a milkshake in her honour afterwards?"

I nodded and followed them upstairs, I stopped and looked back at the cave the dim light and shadows, I knew in my gut things were going to get harder from here.


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's note: Hi all, enjoy this one, there is a little twist! Let me know what you think! **

* * *

Artemis's funeral was hard, the Team were inconsolable, I cried to, not just for Artemis but for what she was going to have to do, I cried for Dad, for Kaldur and for what was going to be ahead of us. Dick stayed strong and held me close as we watched a coffin containing a fake body lowered into the ground. We all eventually made our way back to the cars, Alfred was waiting for us. Tim's cheeks were red from crying, I went over and hugged him.

"I'm sick of going to funerals," He said fighting back more tears. All I could do was nod in agreement, I had been to my fair share of funerals, mum's, Jason's, now this one, Dick had been to more and Dad even more again. I sighed, our family, were we just fated to be this unlucky? We got into the car and didn't speak a word, Alfred gave me a smile of sympathy, I realised that out of all of us, he had been to more funerals, poor Alfred.

Tim disappeared into his room when we got home, I went down to the Batcave, I just wanted to be alone for awhile. I brought up the information we had on The Light and read through it for the tenth time, I hoped that something would click and I would be able to figure all this out. "Are you near to cracking this case Miss?" Alfred asked coming down the stairs, "I brought you some Earl Grey, I thought you might need it."

I took the cup, "No, not any closer. I just think the more I read over it the more I might understand, but I just can't figure it out, every angle I look at comes up the same."

"Try not to get wound up about it, you are doing your best," Alfred consoled.

"But it isn't my best. I am Batman's daughter for heaven's sake, the worlds greatest detective, and I can't figure this out," I threw my arms up in the air and gestured at the screen.

Alfred walked in front of me, "But you are not Batman Alexandra, you are you, and I think that you are a pretty incredible person as it is, so try not to worry, answers will come." I smiled up at him, he always knew what to say.

"Alfred's right Alex, information will come," Dick walked in dressed in his costume, "I got a called from Mal and I'm heading to Mount Justice, you want in?"

I rolled my eyes, did he even have to ask. I was dressed in seconds and put my mask on over my eyes, Alfred handed me my swords and I strapped them on my back. I followed Dick in to the Zeta Tube and we emerged in the Cave, Mal and Conor were waiting for us. On the screens above images of La'gann, Aquaman, Kaldur and Black Manta were on display.

"So what's going on?" Dick asked Mal.

"I have word from Aquaman, he is quote 'searching the seven seas' unquote looking for Lagoon Boy and his captures. It's a big planet," Mal said and a globe appeared, it spun around showing every inch of Earth, "And that's a lot of water."

Conor walked over to Mal and put his hand on his shoulder, "We'll find La'gann."

"And Aqualad, I want his fish head on platter for what he did to Artemis," Mal growled. I felt Dick tense beside me, I took his arm and rubbed my thumb in comfort, if only Mal knew.

Conor looked back at us and I quickly let go of Dick's arm, "Are we any closer to identifying The Lights partner?"

He shook his head, Conor and Mal looked back at the globe, "Let's go," Dick whispered in my ear, I followed without question and we slipped away without the other two noticing. I didn't question where he was taking me, I heard voices coming up from the cavern; it was a small and peaceful place below the main cave, it held holograms of all the fallen or retired members of the Justice League or the Team, there was Robin or Dick as Robin, Aquagirl Kaldur's girlfriend that was killed on a mission, Ted Cord or the original Blue Beetle, and now Artemis. I knew that some of the younger members of the team were down there trying to make sense of everything, I saw Tim wander down there the other day. I remember asking Dad when I found out about the League when I was about ten why there weren't huge monuments to them in the Hall of Justice, he told me that The League didn't want the citizens of Earth to see them as weak and mortal, it wouldn't do well for morale.

I caught up with Dick at the Zeta Tube, "Hey, you ok?" I asked. He looked up at me, and I immediately knew he wasn't, "What's wrong?" I put my arm around his waist and looked up at him.

"You don't want to know, honestly," He sounded distant.

I tensed my jaw, "What did we discuss the other day? You have to stop keeping things to yourself, it will eat you up. Did you find something out about The Light? Is it Artemis?"

He looked down at be, even behind his mask I could see his eye brows narrowing, "No it isn't."

"Then tell me Dick please," I put my hand on his cheek, it was a little rough, he hadn't shaved.

"It's about you Alex," His voice was serious, my heart plummeted.

"What about me?" I managed to say.

He thought for a second gathering his thoughts, "I was doing some digging on the Batcave computer, I found a file that Bruce had on you, I hacked into it, I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for Dick?" I felt my heart rate increase.

He cleared his throat, "Have you ever heard of Ra's al Ghul?"

I nodded, "Yeah, League of Assassins, not particularly a nice person. But what has he got to do with me?"

"Not him, well not directly. His daughter Talia, she a Bruce had a thing years back, and according to the file on the computer, Claire McKenna wasn't your biological mother. Talia al Ghul is." I froze, what did he just say? I was the love child of Bruce Wayne and the daughter of a madman? I felt my knees go weak, Dick grabbed me, 'Not here babe, come on back to the Batcave." Dick punched in manually the code to Zeta directly into the Batcave. I practically fell through and to the other side. I landed on my knees and nearly got sick. Everything I knew, everything I thought I knew was a lie. I felt Dick pull me to my feet and pretty much carried me over to a chair by the computer. He knelt down in front of me, "Alex please say something."

"Show me," I whispered.

"Eh are you sure?" He raised an eye brow. I nodded, he rose and turned to the computer and brought up the file. I looked up and saw Talia al Ghul, my mother, my real mother, she had dark brown hair and chocolate brown eyes, I realised with a sickening feeling that we had the same face. "There is a video, do you want to look at it?" Dick asked. I nodded again, I didn't trust myself to open my mouth incase I puked.

The video came up on the screen it was Dad, he was talking to camera, "Alex, if you are watching this then you have found out who your mother is. She is Talia al Ghul. There are a number of reasons why I kept this from you, firstly I didn't want to tarnish your image of Claire in your mind, and secondly I didn't want you to think that you are anything like Talia, you aren't. I met Talia eighteen years ago now when I was on my travels around the world training. I met her in the Middle East had no idea who she was, we spent time together and then one night we conceived you. I didn't know that Talia was pregnant but she sent me a letter nine months later with a picture of you," He showed a worn picture of me as a baby, "You were so beautiful, I tried to call Talia, but I couldn't get in contact with her. A few years past and I began as Batman, that was when I learned about the League of Assassins, and I panicked I wanted to know where you were, if you were safe. After months of searching I found you, you were in the care of Claire McKenna in Central City, you seemed so happy and loved, I decided not to interfere. I now regret my decision. What I didn't know is that Talia had Claire on payroll, and that Talia's ultimate goal was to end Claire and set you on a dark path that would lead to the League of Assassins, back to her, and then she would use you to get to me. But after the death of Claire I made sure I got you before Talia could snare you. I am so sorry, I should have told you, and told you face to face, not like this. I hope you can forgive me, I love you." The video stopped and the screen went black.

Dick looked at me, "Are you…. eh?" He was lost for words.

"Am I ok after finding out that I was meant to be a weapon against my father and my mother is really a homicidal maniac? Yeah I'm just peachy." I said rolling my eyes, I felt tears fall down my cheeks and they ran into my mouth.

Dick pulled me to my feet and wrapped me into a hug, "I am so sorry babe, I wish there was something I could do." He kissed my hair. I couldn't even cry anymore, it felt like all the tears were gone over the last two days, and now there was no more.

I broke away from Dick, he gave me a look, I wanted to get away, so I lied, "I'm gonna to be ok. Really, just because my biological mother is who she is doesn't mean I have to change. I have become the person I am because of what Dad taught me and because of you Dick. Talia al Ghul might be my mother but she never showed it, if I ever have to face her she is meeting Blade not her daughter."

Dick smiled and hugged me, "How are you so strong all the time?"

I leaned up and kissed him, "Have you met my father?" He laughed, there was truth in that. I looked at my watch, "Crap! I have to go." I wiped my face with my sleeve.

"Where are you going?" Dick stood back in shock.

"Rochelle's engagement party in Dakota City! I said I'd go!" I ran off to get changed.

* * *

I made it to Dakota City in an hour, thank god for Zeta Tubes. I walked down the street and saw Zatana and M'gann. "Hey guys!" I called out.

"I thought you weren't going to make it," Zatana smiled at me. I gave them a hug, but I kept thinking back to Talia, needed to push her back, get her out of my head. We rounded the corner and were greeted by the rest of the group.

"Oh hey look! It's Alex, M'gann and Zatana!" Cassie called out and waved. I gave Rochelle a hug and sat down at the table, M'gann gave her a bag and took her seat.

"M'gann you shouldn't have!" She smiled and opened the bag.

"Actually its from me and Artemis too, we bought it together." M'gann went quiet. My head felt like it was going to explode, there was too much going on, too much for me to take in, too much to handle, but I had to keep it together, I couldn't let the girls see me break.

"What am I doing?" Rochelle said, "Having this shower? How can we celebrate so soon after…?"

"Because that is what Artemis would have wanted us to celebrate," M'gann said.

Zatana nodded, "She'd kick our butts if we didn't." I smiled in agreement, but inside I felt hollow, maybe it wasn't the best idea coming, but I couldn't go back now.

I decided to put on my best face and I raised my glass, "To absent friends." Everyone raised theirs a saluted Artemis. I took a sip of my drink and set it down. I saw Black Canary, or Dinah giving me a strange look, she knew something was wrong with me, dammit, I swore to myself. They all chatted over dinner and laughed, I tried to join in but I wasn't really up for it. Once the party was over I started walking back to the Zeta Tube, but some else had other ideas, "Alex wait!" Dinah called, I stopped but didn't turn to greet her, "Are you ok? You seemed very off at the party."

"There's a lot on my mind," I sighed.

"I can see that, you want to come over and we can talk about it?" She asked. I looked at her, I liked Dinah, she was always nice to me. I spoke to her a lot after Mom, I mean Claire, died.

"Yeah sounds good," I gave her a faint smile.

* * *

Dinah opened the door to her apartment and let me in. It had a fabulous view over Star City and on a real clear day you could see for miles. "Go sit down and I'll get you some tea." She disappeared into the kitchen. I sat down on a chair in the sitting room, but I couldn't fully relax. The door opened and I jumped.

"Whoa, sorry Alex didn't see you there. You ok?" Oliver, aka Green Arrow, came in the door.

"Sorta Olly," I swallowed.

"Oh," He put his keys down and hung his coat up then walked over and sat down near me. Dinah came in with tea and gave Olly a light kiss.

"So, Alex what is going on?" Dinah asked gently.

I looked from Olly to Dinah and back again, why were they being so kind, I didn't deserve this. "I found out today that who I thought was my mother is in fact not." Both the adults looked confused. "Have you heard of Talia al Ghul?"

Olly nodded, "Ra's al Ghul's daughter, I have had dealings with him in the past."

"Well she is my mother, and even though I know that I am not her, and that I am a different person, I've read the files on her, and the way I fight, they way I act sometimes, it's so like her. I'm….. I'm afraid. I'm afraid that I will turn into her and betray everyone." I felt a tear fall down my cheek.

Dinah got up from beside Olly and sat beside me. She put her arm around my shoulder, "Oh god, Alex. That is a lot to take in."

Olly spoke, "Alex honey, you are so far from Talia you have no idea. You are kind, gentle and you love people. Do you think Dick would be with you this long if he didn't think the same? Trust me, you are your own person, you are Bruce's daughter, us and the League and the Team, we are your family. Forget Talia, she is nothing to you."

I looked from Olly to Dinah, they were right, I know I had said it to Dick before I left the Batcave, but I didn't fully believe it, I just wanted to get out of there. "Thanks, I am my own person, I realise that now. I just with Dad being gone its harder to handle."

I stayed in their apartment for a little be longer finally relaxing, I smiled and laughed and felt normal again. I went to go home but Olly said he'd tag along to Gotham with me, he wanted to talk to Red Arrow. Ever since the original Roy Harper showed up and dropped the mantle of Speedy and became Arsenal, Red Arrow had moved to the East Coast moving from city to city.

By the time I got back to the Batcave it was well past one in the morning. I walked up in to the Manor and opened the Grandfather Clock. The room was dark, everyone was in bed. I made my way up the stairs to my room, I stopped at my door, but then walked down to Dick's room. I opened the door and saw his black hair sticking up out of the covers. I smiled, Olly was right, if I was like Talia, Dick wouldn't be here. I walked across the room and pulled back the covers sliding into the bed. Dick stirred in his sleep and rolled on to his back. I put my hand on his stomach then leaned over and kissed his chest and down his torso. He groaned and opened his eyes, "Alex?" He said sleepily.

"Shush," I whispered, and kissed his neck. I felt his arms wrap around me and he pulled me underneath him. I didn't even protest, I let him kiss my neck and down my chest and stomach. I smiled to myself, my breath hitched in pleasure. He kissed my lips and I ran my hands through his hair, then down his muscular back pulling him closer to me. I felt him sink into me, I sighed and kissed him harder. He kissed my neck and whispered in my ear, "I love you, please don't ever forget that."

I lay beside him afterwards, our legs intertwined. I looked up at Dick, the moon light framing his handsome face, I kissed his chest and closed my eyes, if I ever met Talia al Ghul, it would be to tell her how she failed, I am not her, and I never will be.

* * *

A few weeks had past since I found out that Talia al Ghul was my mother, I had made peace with it in my mind with help from Dinah and Dick. I walked into the Cave from the kitchen with a can of Coke, Dick was looking over the computer data. "Recognised Impulse B24, Blue Beetle B23." The Zeta Tube called out. I looked over as both of them sped out of the tube into the hall.

"Whoa, cool you heels guys," I said protecting my Coke.

"Haha! Let them in the dust!' Bart laughed and held something up.

"Left who in the dust?" Dick asked them, crossing his arms.

"And what is that?" I pointed at whatever Bart was holding.

He held it up, "A souvenir!"

"That's Beast Boy's thing," Blue corrected him.

"Oh, I thought it was Kid Flash…"

"Can we get to the point," Dick asked, I could see his patience was running thin.

Blue elbowed Bart, "Sorry, Aqualad attacked us with Icicle Junior, the Terror Twins and a ninja girl I've never seen before."

"This is how they tracked Blue," Bart held up the device, "I made sure they didn't do it again."

"So you brought foreign, possibly alien tech into the Cave? Rookie mistake!" Dick raised his voice, both Bart and Jaime looked like they just got their asses handed to them.

"Nightwing," I raised an eye brow at him.

He looked over at me and sighed, "Ugh, give it here." He began to look over at it. I recognised it straight away, today was going to be the day. Kaldur was launching a fake attack on the cave to prove his worth to his father but also to pass information to Dick. It looked like he was ahead of schedule, he must have had to move the day forward.

"Arrh! I'm an idiot!" Dick swore as an alarm went off. We turned to see Conor flying towards us, I ducked but Dick was hit and went flying too and was trapped under Conor. I looked back and saw that someone had but an inhibitor collar on him. Then the someone came into view, one of the Terror Twins and Icicle Junior.

"Impulse, get Icicle Junior, Blue you're with me." I pulled my Katana swords out, I knew that Artemis and Kal would be bluffing, but the other weren't going to play nice. Impulse ran towards Junior and knocked him out in seconds. I looked to my right, the other Terror Twin was making an appearance, the girl. I stood ready, but she was holding something, my eyes widened, it was a bomb, I don't remember this being in the plan, I thought. Impulse ran towards the Terror Twin but he was picked up and collared, crap. Blue tried the sonics, it seemed to work. Dick stood up but Tigress, or Artemis had him. She kicked him back to the ground, I wanted to tell her to go easy, but I couldn't. Dick was flat on his back and Tigress straddled him pinning his legs. I shook my head, that wasn't going to fly with me. She put an inhibitor collar on him.

'Oi, newbie, get off my boyfriend," I kicked her in the shoulder and sent her flying across the room. But she flipped and landed on her feet, then took a remote out of her pocket and pressed it, the collar on Dick's neck pulsed electricity.

"Stop!" I yelled as Dick fell to his knees. I looked up as Blue aimed his sonic.

"Stand down!" Kaldur's voice boomed out. "This battle is over."

"I don't think so traitor!" Jaime shouted.

"Blue! Stand down!" I commanded.

"Wise move Blade," Kaldur nodded at me, he motioned to one of the Terror Twins and he placed the bomb on the ground. "This bomb is the same as the one that destroyed Malina Island. I am holding down the deadman's switch, if my thumb comes off this button for any reason Mount Justice will fall."

Blue landed beside me, but before we could move the Terror Twins had us and inhibitor collars were fixed to our necks.

Junior appeared, "I'm fine by the way."

"Good escort, Beast Boy, Blue Beatle and Impulse to the flyer." Kaldur commanded.

"What about these three?" Tigress asked.

"As hostages here they have value, but Nightwing and Blade are ordinary humans and Superboy is a human/kryptonian clone, neither are of use to our partners." Kaldur told them.

Dick leapt to his feet, "Aqualad! You'll regret this!" He shouted. Kaldur walked over to him and punched him in the stomach, Dick bent double.

"I believe I have out grown that name," Kaldur said walking away. "I will leave the bomb with you, as a souvenir, oh and the Deadman's switch has a five mile range, do not pursue." He walked out of the cave after the others.

I looked over at Dick, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah fine," He smiled and showed me the flash drive that Kaldur had managed to pass to him. "Now just to get out of these."

"Not a problem," I showed him a switch. "Artemis passed it to me when I kicked her." We were out of the collars in seconds. I called for Wolf and Dick got the Supercycle ready. We lifted Conor on to the cycle and began to fly out of the Cave. I looked back at it as we went, all the memories, the fun times and the sad times we had here, they were about to be wiped from the face of the Earth.

We were over the sea and I looked around for the Black Manta flyer, there was no sign, not good at all. The heat wave hit us from behind, I felt the Supercycle flip, and the explosion ripped through the air. The cold water hit us and I gasped for breath. Then all was black and cold.

"Conor! Conor!" I heard someone calling out, I coughed and cleared my lungs, "Blade!" I focused my eyes. It was Mal. "Wake up Conor, we need to get out of here, the Supercycle is sinking!" I scrambled over to Conor and shook him, he jolted awake.

"Get Wolf we need to move," I told him. I sank down into the icy water.

"Are you ok to swim?" Mal asked me.

"Yeah I'm fine, you got Nightwing?" I looked at Dick is his arms, he was out cold.

"I'm have him don't worry. Come on, we need to get to shore." He turned and struck out, I followed suit, it was going to be a long swim to shore.

* * *

We made it back to The Hall of Justice, I looked at the clock, it was three in the morning, I never felt so tired. I passed a cup of tea to Dick, he was deep in thought.. I leaned over and kissed his neck. "Are you ok babe?" I asked him. He just nodded and sipped his tea.

"Recognised, Kid Flash B03." The computer called out. I grimaced, just we needed.

"What happened?" Wally asked.

Dick put down his cup, "It was necessary."

"It better have been, spill." Wally was fighting back the anger.

"Aqualad needed to find a way to help us rescue Lagoon Boy. He already injected La'gann with a tracker into his blood stream. Kaldur used the raid on the Cave to pass vital information and intel. A flash drive with among other things a tracking software that can locate the tag." Dick told him holding up the flash drive.

"Like that was all he did!" Wally crossed his arms.

"Wally he had to make it look good, he put inhibitor collars on us but he knew that Alex would get us out of them." Dick stood up.

"He took three more hostages! Members of your team!" Wally jabbed his finger at Dick.

"And we'll get them back when we rescue Lagoon Boy!" Dick told him.

Wally reached forward and grabbed the front of Dick's suit, "Dick he blew up the Cave! You guys almost died!"

I put my hands on Wally's, "No Wally, its all on the flash drive, he knew we would have to pursue to make it look legit and that is exactly what happened. He gave us time to get out we just got caught in the debris field from the explosion."

"You you both hear yourselves? What if even one of you had been left behind, huh? Why take that risk? Why go to such extremes?" Wally stared at us.

Dick walked over to the table and leaned against it, "The drive explains that too. He needed to cement his position with The Light and The Light's partner."

"Wasn't that why he 'murdered Artemis'," Wally questioned.

"I guess it didn't convince everyone," Dick sighed.

"You guess?!" Wally shouted.

"The Cave is just a place! Worth sacrificing if it helps us stop the invasion! Look I'm sorry you lost all your souvenirs," Dick was getting more and more annoyed.

"Are you serious?" Wally pushed Dick back into a seat, "I don't care about that junk, I'm worried about Artemis! Terrified for her! You put her right in to his hands!"

I stepped in front of Dick, "Wally enough. I can't image what you are going through, but when I was in the cave fighting Artemis, she past me this," I handed him a flash drive, "She said it was just for you. She is fine Wally, Kaldur is guarding her well, she bruised a few of my ribs too." I saw Wally look at the flash drive, then at us.

"Yeah well in the space of a few months Kaldur lost the love of his life, and found out that Black Manta is his father. What if Aqualad is actually a traitor? A Triple agent?" Wally questioned.

I heard Dick sigh, "Wally, I have found things out about myself in the last few weeks that would chill you to your core, but I am still Alex Wayne, Blade, I would lay down my life for my friends and Team mates. I know that Kaldur would do the same. We just need to have faith."


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note: Enjoy this one guys, it was fun to write, a nice little bit of action for you all! **

* * *

After Mount Justice was destroyed we needed an new place to operate out of. Tim suggested we use the Batcave, but that was totally out of the question. The Hall of Justice was the next logical move. Dick walked over to me, "I got the intel, we know where they are." I nodded and called Barbara, Tim and Karen in to the Hall.

"We have intel that there is a shipment of captured humans leaving for The Light's partner tomorrow from Star City. We want you all to go undercover as hostages so we can locate the stronghold," Dick told them, bringing an image of the docks in Star City up on the computer.

"I will be accompanying you to make sure that all goes well with your infiltration, then the rest of the Team will be following in the Bipship," I stepped forward, "We will be leaving at 21 hundred hours tomorrow night." The Team nodded and went to prepare, I felt Dick looking at me, I turned to face him. "Before you say anything I am going. I'll be fine, Artemis is over seeing the operation on the enemy end, she will make sure that we are kept out of sight. Don't worry please." I gave him a faint smile.

He nodded and hugged me, "Just stay safe and be careful."

"Always am."

* * *

We arrived in Star City via the Zeta Tube, and cut across town quickly making sure we weren't seen. We got to the docks and I pulled up the plans. I motioned for them to follow me, we went high and hopped across over containers. We dropped down once we saw the cage containing the hostages. I nodded to Tim, Babs and Karen. Karen was in her uniform but the other two were in street clothes. I put my binoculars to my eyes and looked over the situation. There were about ten hostages in the cages, all young adults and teenagers, no one over 21. They all looked terrified as the Manta troopers guarded them on all sides. It was going to be hard to get the team in. But we caught a break, Artemis walked over, "Go get the pods! I want these loaded now!" She barked the order. This was our chance.

"Ok, go now. And good luck." I squeezed Tim's arm, "Stay safe." I watched as they dropped into the cage, startling the occupants inside. I waited at my vantage point, I needed to see them off. The Manta's opened the gate and started hauling the hostages into stasis pods. They are gonna have one hell of headache when they wake up, I thought, remembering back to my time in a pod. Tim and Barbara were in, Karen was in Tim's pocket. The pods closed and they went unconscious. I heard a rumble from the sea, the Manta flyer rose like a dark omen from the water and opened its hull doors. I watched as they were transported inside.

"They are aboard," I said over the radio.

"Copy that, bringing Bioship over you for pick up," M'gann said. I looked up and saw a hole appear in the sky, it was a door to the ship. I shot a cable upwards and soared into the ship. I went to take my seat and gave Dick a smile. Cassie and M'gann where there too. I suddenly realised how short on numbers we were, and it was getting less and less by the day at this rate. M'gann dove the BioShip into the sea, pursuing the Manta flyer.

"Ok, they are leading us to Lagoon Boy and the others," Dick looked at the tracker on the screen.

Cassie piped up, "How can you be sure?

"Wishful thinking?" Dick shrugged.

"And the hostages at the docks how did you know about that?" She pressed.

Oh no, I thought, but Dick was quick on his feet, "Aquaman found the intel when he was searching for La'gann." Well played my dear, well played, I said to myself.

We followed the Manta ship deep below the surface, and saw the ship dock on another strange looking structure. It was a domed shape, and huge, lit up from underneath giving it a creepy glow.

"So this is The Light's partner," Dick stood up and looked out to it.

I looked at the readings from my screen in front of me, "That ship shares the same alien design sensibility as the bombs that destroyed Malina and Mount Justice."

Cassie sat forward in her seat, "Kinda reminds me of Blue 's armour," She pointed at the ship.

I looked over at Dick then to M'gann, the kid had a point. "Miss M, you're up," Dick said. M'gann, got out of the pilots seat and density shifted through the hull of the BioShip.

"Alpha squad, I'm heading into the Alien ship are you aboard?" M'gann asked through the physic link. I could faintly see her in the distance threw the dark water. The rookies in the Team were always hard pressed to spot her in camouflage mode, but when you've worked with someone for over six years you learn everything about them.

"Affirmative," Barbara answered, "We're in some kind of docking bay, we have a visual of the new Alien, aka The Light's partner. And we've got company, it's Aqualad. If he makes us, we're over." She sounded a little worried.

"Stay whelmed," Dick reassured them, "He won't be looking for you just don't attract attention."

What seemed like seconds later M'gann's voice came again, she sounded extremely excited, "I found Garfield and Bart, they're unconscious but alive. No sign of Jaime or La'gann."

Barbara answered her fear, "We have eyes on Lagoon Boy, and Shimmer! Plus four civilisations and the teens we came with. We're unsupervised now but Blue is still unaccounted for and escape could trigger a response do we wait?"

I looked at Dick, I could see he was weighting up the options, there were few though, "Negative Alpha, make your move before you need rescuing too. And you too Miss M, get our boys."

I saw Cassie looked a little worried, Dick was busy keeping an eye on the enemy ship so I went over to her, "You ok Cass?" I asked.

"What? Oh yeah, I'm fine." She stammered.

I raised my eye brow, "Eh Cassie, that wasn't a convincing answer, what's wrong? You can tell me."

"Em, well I sorta like this guy and I see him a lot, but I have no idea what to do, and I don't know how he feels," She hung her head.

I knew that Dick could hear our conversation, but he had the tact to stay out of it, "Well Cass, you just gotta be honest, that's what we did, and it worked out ok."

"Docking bay secured," Conor's voice came through the link, he had gone in as a Manta solider, he had been in there for about a day.

"Look we can talk more after ok? Maybe get a coffee?" I patted her shoulder, she smiled up at me.

Dick took the controls and guided the ship to the docking bay. He opened the doors and Cassie and I went down to get people on board.

"Aright guys lets go!" I ordered beckoning them on to the ship. Cassie started the head count. The last two to run in was Tim and Barbara, they waited with Conor. "Wait," I called to them, "Where's Miss M, BB and Impulse?"

Conor paused, "The link is down, so I'm going in." He took off down the corridor, but then got sent flying backwards. What every had hit him must be huge, I thought. I didn't need to wait long to find out.

My blood ran cold as this giant walked through the door to the loading bay. He was in all black and built like a house. I realised that the armour he had on was in fact a black version, and larger version. of Blue's.

"Apologies meat, but no one goes anywhere," He said in a raspy deep voice, it was almost metallic in sound, and I didn't like it one bit. He touched the wall and the loading bay closed. We were on our own.

"Listen Black Beetle, open those doors and we'll go easy on you," Cassie threatened.

"You'll go easy on me?" He laughed deeply and heartily. I gulped, this was going to be a fun one, where's Joker when you need him?

I launched my attack first, pulling my swords out and locking the pommels together. He made a swing at me and I ducked then making a go of his amour, but my swords simply bounced off. Cassie flew in over head, but he grabbed her and threw her across the room, taking Barbara out with her. He turned his attention on me and Tim, I looked over at Tim, "Like we practiced." He nodded. Tim ran at the Beetle and threw a smoke bomb, then dove under its legs and kicked up, unbalancing it. I ran threw the smoke and I was meant to swing my swords to block his punches and then double kick him in the chest. But instead the Beetle thought it was a better idea to simple pick me up and hurl me at a wall. I relaxed for the impact, but I heard a resounding crack as I hit then a sharp pain as I hit the floor. Yeah that's a few ribs gone, I sighed and winced. I looked up and saw La'gann being hurled to the opposite wall too. It was only Conor up against him now, but even all his strength wasn't a match against this Beetle and Conor ended up on the ground, ripping up the floor on impact. Cassie went for another bout, but was set flying towards Conor and knocked out. Tim and Barbara were on their feet and shot batarangs at him, but all that did was tickle I bet. I stood beside them and we shot a lines and pulsed electricity through the cords. But the Black Beetle let out that creepy laugh again. "Move!" I shouted, as he turned to us and shot what looked like large staples at us. I tried to flip out of the firing line, but it was useless. One wrapped around my torso and brought me straight back into that god forsaken wall again! And Ow, I winced, one of the cracked ribs broke.

"Can't you at least get the link back up?" I heard Garfield's voice in my head.

"Gar I can hear you," I answered.

"Oh," he replied.

M'gann cut in, "What's going on in there?"

"Well I'm just hanging off a wall, you know, as you do. Conor is knocked out, and we've been cut off from the BioShip. So yeah, it's all good." My voice was laced with sarcasm.

"Blade, what else is going on?" Dick's voice echoed in my head, I could have laughed with joy when I heard him.

"Lagoon Boy is down, so is Bumble Bee, and Cassie is still trying her best, Robin, Batgirl and I are stuck to the wall," I relayed. I saw Conor trying to get up, he ran at Black Beetle with all his strength, but was slammed to the floor, "Now Conor is down, it's just Cassie now, I'm going to try and get loose." I wiggled in the staple, then I had an idea. I reached down to my belt and took out some explosives. I fixed them to one of the arms that dug into the wall. I waited and turned my face. The metal arm flew off the wall and I dropped to my feet. I spotted my swords across the room, I sprinted over to them and grabbed them off the floor.

"Why bother little girl? I can see you are weakened, it won't take like for one of those ribs to puncture a lung," The Beetle laughed at me.

My breath hitched in pain, "Because you must be stopped and you have hurt all my friends, and buddy that doesn't fly with me." I whipped the dagger from my leg and threw it distracting him. He dodged the dagger but wasn't quick enough for me. I swiped at his leg with my Katana sword, I used the other against the ground as leverage and sprung off it kicking him in the chest. He staggered backwards, but it wasn't enough. This guy had taken out Conor for heavens sake!

Cassie appeared from my right, but the Beetle grabbed her and pinned her against the door, bringing his hand back to punch her. M'gann's head came threw the door, finally some hope. But the Beetle touched the door and M'gann was stuck.

"What did you do to her?" Cassie shouted.

"Shifted the density of the door," The Beetle grinned, "Wasn't prepared for that was she? But don't be jealous, I can put you half way through the door too. The hard way." He slammed Cassie against the door repeatedly. I needed a plan, but I was fresh out of ideas. Cassie went limp, she had pasted out, Beetle dropped her to the ground.

Shimmer ran towards me, I had had enough of her crap. She leapt in the air and aimed her foot at me, I reached out and grabbed it, using the force she had created against her, I turned her and aimed her at the wall. She was out cold.

The door opened suddenly, I braced myself, but it was Blue and Impulse, BB followed them in too. We weren't totally lost. Blue reached opened the doors to the BioShip, then he circled the Black Beetle. I had to focus on getting the Team back to safety.

'BB, Impulse, help me get everyone inside!" I ordered them. They acted immediately getting people to their feet and helping them to the Bioship. I reached up and got Tim down, "I have you, let's go" I helped him over and I got Bumble Bee too holding her in my hand. We stopped as there was a deafening crash. I looked up, Blue was owning Black, if I wasn't busy I would have whooped with joy.

Dick was running out of the ship as we came in the doors, "Hold up," I told him, "Robin can you make it the rest of the way?" He nodded and limped into the ship, I gave Dick Bumble Bee, "Blue is keeping Black busy, Impulse and BB are getting everyone else up and on board. Once everyone is in you need to be at the helm to make a fast exit." I was about to turn to go, but Dick grabbed my arm.

"Are you ok?" He looked down at me.

I must have really looked a state, "I'm fine, get to the helm, we can talk later." I turned and sprinted back. Sonics were going off in every direction making parts of the ceiling collapse. I stopped in my tracks as BB brought in the last person. But some how water had begun to leek into the docking bay, and the intake was getting bigger, we needed to go. I ran back to the cock pit, "Everyone is in except Blue!" I told them.

"I'm going back in for him," Impulse shouted and took off. I looked at Dick, he shook his head, the water was getting higher. But a wave knocked Impulse back. I had to make a call.

"Nightwing! Seal the hatch! The docking bay is flooding our hull!" I shouted.

"Acknowledged," He answered.

"But Blue!" Garfield protested.

"We can't help him if we drown," I said to him. "Or get crushed by the pressure at this depth."

Dick steered the ship away from the docking bay, I heard the enemy opened fire on us, but Dick was too good of a pilot to let them get us. La'gann left the ship through the air lock and spotted Blue. We managed to pick them up as we dodged the rain of fire that we were getting from The Reach.

We sat Blue up on a chair, I stood behind Dick as he helmed the ship back home. I put my hand on his shoulder, I didn't want to let go. Bart watched over Jaime, I wondered why he was so close to him. Ever since Bart appeared he asked for Blue, did he know something we didn't. Wait, I told myself, of course he knows more than we do, he's from the future, he knows that me and Dick get married, god knows what else he has on all of us.

"It's me! It's me!" Jaime shouted, he was wake.

"Of course it is," Bart raised an eye brow.

"Mission accomplished everyone," Dick said, "Well done. Care to take the controls Miss M?" He went to stand. I looked down at M'gann, she seemed very off.

"I think she's still basking in the glow of victory," Garfield spoke for her, "She total nailed Aqualad! You should have seen it! Well actually, it didn't look like much, but I'm sure it was very cool inside their heads."

We landed back at the Hall of Justice, Black Canary and Green Arrow were waiting for us. I smiled at them as I walked down off the ship. We handed over the rescued hostages to them for debriefing and locating family and relatives. We saw the Team off home then we headed back ourselves.

Alfred was waiting up for us in the Batcave, "Oh I am so glad you are all home safe!" He smiled.

"So are we Alfred," I said, "Can you see to Tim, I think he might have a broken rib and a possible concussion?" Alfred nodded and saw straight to Tim, ignoring the protests he was greeted with.

I walked around to the other medical area and peeled off the top of my suit, I winced as it pasted my ribs.

"Let me help you," Dick walked around the corner, "Oh god Alex, that looks sore." I looked down at the bruises that were already showing.

"I'll be fine," I gave a faint smile. He helped me out of my suit so I sat on the medical bed in my underwear. He raised my arm and felt gently down my side, I gripped the bed as he past the ribs that were sore. Then he checked the other side, but even though it hurt, just his closeness made me feel better.

"Well two of them are broken and one is bruised," He told me, "You're lucky." He went over and got the bindings to wrap up my ribs. I winced again as he bound my torso but he did it quickly.

"Thanks," I smiled at him lowering my arms, then I saw a look flash across his face. "What?"

"While I was in the Bioship, and I couldn't get out to you, it was killing me. And when the physic link came back and I could hear each punch you were getting and hearing your ribs crack, I wished it was me." The pain was written across his face.

"Dick, I'm fine. This is the game we are in, I know what risk I take when we go on a mission. I can handle myself." I took his face in my hands and made him bend so I could look at him properly, "You have to understand that ok? We agreed this, we can't let things interfere with the mission." He nodded, "Now kiss me, because I want to punch you right now for touching my ribs." He grinned and kissed my lips, I draped my arms around his neck, relaxing in the familiar feeling.

A call on the computer broke our moment, "You get that, I'll get dressed," I said to him. He went to the computer to answer the call. I pulled on a t-shirt and some sweat pants.

"By now they will have moved their ship, plus there's still the Beetle connection to figure out. But you can tell the world that they are hear. Their secret invasion is no secret anymore," I saw that Dick was speaking to Captain Atom.

"That would be an understatement," Aquaman came into the frame, and brought up a media feed. My heart sank, what had they done?

"Repeating today's top story; a small group of extra terrestrials, The Reach, have arrived at United Nations Headquarters in New York City. For more on this we go live to GBS's own G Gordon Godfrey at the UN. 'Thanks Cat and yes folks, its seems Earths finally met some aliens who know how to get it right',." The camera panned to a platform where the General Secretary of the UN and a member of The Reach stood, " 'The Reach comes to your world as friends. We come with open arms extending our hands, our Reach, if you will.'" The camera moved back to G Gordon, " 'Well thumbs up to The Reach. Oh I know what you are thinking, old G Gordons gone soft on the spacemen, but don't you see? This is exactly how Aliens should come to Earth, knocking on our front door, not sneaking in the back, like some Leaguers we know.'" Aquaman paused the play back. My mouth was dry.

"So before we warned the public, they go public," Dick looked shocked.

"It could be worse," Aquaman said, "At least we know exactly where they are."

I stepped forward, "Yes we know where one ship is, but if this is an invasion force, shouldn't there be more? And where are they hiding?" Aquaman gave Cap a nervous look, I had a point and I knew it. We hung up the link and I held my head in my hands.

Dick gingerly wrapped me in a hug, "We are going to stop them, and when Bruce gets back, it is going be like he never left." I nodded into his chest, but I felt a sudden deja vous, blue and speed, them together, my dreams. Blue Beetle and Impulse, it was them, they were the key to all of this. We needed to get them talking as soon as possible.


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note: Hi all, thanks so much for your continuing support, I am so touched by your reviews! Makes writing this even more fun!**

* * *

Walking down into the sitting room the following morning was not only sore but a little strange. I opened the door to see Garfield asleep on M'gann, Conor was in the arm chair, Mal was spread out on the other couch and La'gann was beside M'gann. I touched Conor's shoulder, "Rise and shine guys." Alfred walked in with a breakfast cart full of food and I went over to open the curtains. They all started stirring from their sleep, I looked over at Gar, he looked so lost. He uncurled himself from the couch and grabbed a croissant off the cart. Tim walked over to me.

"Morning, hows the ribs?" He asked.

"Fine, could be worse, and yours?" I pointed to his chest, he shrugged.

"Listen I'm going to go and hang out with Bart and Jaime, they should be almost finished with Black Canary," He said.

I nodded, "Yeah sure, keep in touch. Dick and I are going to bring these to the temporary accommodation after breakfast anyways. Oh Tim, take Gar with you. I got a message from Canary that she wants to talk to him too." Tim nodded and grabbed Garfield and waved bye to the Team then headed down to the Batcave.

Dick walked in in costume with Sphere following in his wake, "Ok everyone, I have temporary accommodation set up for you all in Bludhaven, so when you're all done we can head over there." They all nodded, no one was really in the speaking mood after last nights mission, especially M'gann for some reason. Dick took my hand, "You ok? Missed you last night."

I smiled up at him, "Fine, just sore. Yeah I couldn't have you touching my ribs last night, you might have incurred some serious damage to your face and I sorta like your face." I leaned up and gave him a quick kiss.

We all loaded up and headed out to Bludhaven on the Supercycle. One thing you need to know about Bludhaven is that it is nothing like Gotham, Gotham is practically Angel City compared to it, only the dregs of the world come to live here, or people that have no choice. It isn't the largest of places, mainly just a shipping and fishing port being the main business. But none the less, it is dark, dank and miserable and was now the temporary home of our Team. Dick landed the Supercycle on the docks opposite of a warehouse. He had bought this warehouse last year to use as storage, I hadn't really thought it was a good idea, but now it was becoming useful. Dick hopped down and raised the shutter on the warehouse.

"Nice, perfect cover for our new digs. On the outside it's down right nasty," Mal said smiling, I shook my head, he wasn't going to be impressed. "It's nasty on the inside too. April's fools right? I mean this is the Team's new HQ? We're the secret trap door to our real base?"

I looked up at Dick and tried to hide a grin, I told him this would happen. "No secret trap door and it's not the new HQ. For the time being we'll operate out of the basement of the Hall of Justice. This is just a place to crash," I saw Mal was about to protest, but Dick raised his hand, "A very temporary, stop gap place to crash for those of you that were actually living at the Cave."

"It's fine," Conor said and patted Wolf's head. The two of them were so easy to place, they just seemed to accept change and move on, rather like me really.

M'gann looked at her section of the 'bedroom', if it could be called that. It was more like a line of beds and then one for her surrounded by curtains. "I'm sorry about the lack of privacy M'gann," Dick went over to her, "The curtains will have to do for now, but we can figure something out."

"Uh no," Mal shook his head, "No way, I am out. I'm heading for the Hall where I'm making other arrangements my friend."

"You two should go along, pick up the boxes of your stuff we managed to salvage from Mount Justice." Dick told M'gann and Conor. "Might help this warehouse become more of a warehome?" Dick turned to me, "I have to go the Watch Tower, Captain Atom wants an update. But you aren't in uniform, don't you want to come?'

"I told Cassie I'd meet her for coffee, I'm heading over to Gotham Mall now," I said then ran my hands up his chest and looped my arms around his neck, "Is that ok? Do you need me up there?"

Dick smiled, "No, you go on I can handle Cap on my own. Catch you later." He leaned down and kissed me, the kiss lingered and I felt that warm feeling in my stomach that made me grin. I broke away and walked over to a wall of the warehouse, "Just don't tell Mal about this ok?" I tapped the wall and it slid open revealing a store of equipment, I grabbed a helmet and wheeled out a bike. I pushed my foot down on the start motor and it roared into life. I steered the bike in the direction of Gotham, getting up on the bridge and cutting across town.

The Mall was hopping with people the spring sales were kicking in. It had been along time since I had actually been shopping, I looked around as I walked to the coffee shop, I saw couples linking arms and holding hands laughing as they perused the shops, I shook my head, somehow I never saw Dick and I doing that. Children ran after their friends as mothers and fathers tried to keep them in check, but to no avail. I saw the coffee shop at the far side of the mall, I could also see Cassie's blonde hair standing out from the crowd, she was already on her second coffee by the looks of things and she had a cup waiting for me.

"Hey Cass," I said sitting down.

She jumped in her seat, "Oh, hi Alex, didn't see you there."

"Sorry didn't mean to make you jump, ease up on the coffee maybe?" I pointed to the empty espresso cup, she sheepishly smiled at me, "So whats up? You seemed at little preoccupied on the mission."

She traced her finger around the cup, "Yeah, I just don't really know what to do. I can't talk to Mom about it and I don't have anyone else."

I reached out with my hand and took hers, "Cass you have this team, and you have me. I look at the Team as a family, you're like my little sister so whatever you need to ask me or tell me I'll listen and give you an answer if I can ok?"

She smiled up at me, "Thanks Alex. Well its just I really like this guy and I see him all the time. But I have no idea whether he likes me or not and I just don't know what to do? What did you do?"

"Me? Well it was a little more complicated for me and Dick, like we lived in the same house before hand. But it was on a New Years about, wow nearly six years ago now. He just kissed me, I had been getting these feelings for him awhile before that, but he was the one the acted, that's not to say that you can't do something, to be honest if Dick hadn't kissed me then I would have kissed him." I smiled remembering back. "We actually left it for about two years or more until we started officially dating, having Batman as your dad is a little bit tedious to say the least."

"But you and Dick are so good together, it looks so easy," Cassie said.

I nearly laughed, "We have our moments, but keeping our relationship separate from work is the key thing. Anyway, who is this guy? Do I know him? Is it someone in school?" I took a sip of my coffee.

Cassie looked at the table, "He isn't from school, but you know him."

This was like twenty questions, I thought, "Is he on the Team?" She avoided my eye contact, "He is on the Team!" I racked my brain trying to think, Conor, Billy Benson or Captain Marvel but he was in the Justice League, Bart, Jaime, Tim? Hold the phone, I thought, it was Tim! Very time he talked to her she would get all girly and clumsy, well more clumsy then normal. "It's Tim." I said.

Cassie's eyes went wide, "How did you…?"

"My Dad's Batman honey, obsessive pattern following and deduction skills were instilled in me from an early age," I grinned.

She sighed, "Ugh, I'm such an idiot, he wouldn't want to go out with me."

"You won't know until you ask Cass. Tim is a sweet kid and you're Wondergirl for gods sake! I'm sure you are beating guys off with a stick in school," I said. "Look you don't have to do anything now, but when you're ready."

Cassie grinned, "Thanks Alex, I don't feel so stupid now." She finished off the last of her coffee.

I drank the rest of mine and we talked and chatted, "So what do you want to do? Oh I have an idea," I fished around in my bag, "I might be killed for this, but I have my father's credit card, and he is off planet. Fancy some shopping?"

We were just leaving the fifth shop when my cell rang in my bag, "Hey babe. What! Ok me and Cassie are leaving right now." I hung up and turned to Cassie, "We gotta go, some lunatic alien going by the name of Desparo has taken over the Hall of Justice and destroyed it. Everyones ok, but the leader of The Reach 'let slip' about The Watch Tower and now the UN is going crazy." Cassie's eyes went wide, "Look can you take the bags and I'll catch up with you later this could be devastating for the League." She nodded and grabbed the bags off me. I ran to the motor bike and called Dick again, "Where will I meet you? I need to change."

"Come to Star Labs in Taos, Cap and Canary are there, Canary has a lead too," He told me. I hung up, and pulled my helmet on, would we ever catch a break?

The Zeta Tube got me straight into Star Labs, I was greeted by a technician who took me to an office. Captain Atom, Dick, Dinah and two scientist were there. I stood beside Dick and looked over at Cap, he looked stressed.

"The Reach used our own secrets against us, beat us without firing a shot, even offered to take Desparo off our hands and I couldn't come up with a reason to say no," Cap threw his arms in the air then crossed them and slouched against the wall, "Hope you have some good news."

"Some answers at least," Dinah answered, "With the obvious exception of Blue Beetle, The Reach abductees are of two types; those with a known superpower and those with the potential to develop one." She held up a bunch of paper clips that seemed to be held in a ball by some force, possibly static, "We now know what a Metta-Gene is. A genetic anomaly that allows certain humans to adapt to new survival abilities when exposed to trauma. The Reach, I think, seeks to cultivate the gene and weaponise it."

"Which is probably what brought The Reach and the Kroloteans here in the first place," Dick said, "All thanks to The Light sending the League to Rimbor and putting Earth and its heroes square in the Galactic spotlight." I gulped and shifted my weight, Dick reached with his hand and took mine, I squeezed it.

The door opened suddenly and Blue burst in, "I'm sorry, I've been hiding something. But I can't, I just can't." He tensed up.

Bart suddenly appeared out of nowhere, "Blue, Blue, Blue! What happened to keep quiet?" I looked down at Dick, what was going on?

"No, time for the truth. Impulse says that some time in the future I betray the Earth and bring on a Reach apocalypse. That's not a future I can live with." He walked into the centre of the room and retracted his amour, "So whatever it takes, get this scarab off me."

* * *

I pulled up the read outs on The Reach farm in Smallville that we had acquired, a team was going in undercover to do a covert mission, I was finalising the details. With the Hall now destroyed along with Mount Justice Mal's dreams came true and the dingy warehouse in Bludhaven was our new HQ. I paused for a minute thinking about Jaime. He had spent most of his days in Star Labs since he told us about the future a few days ago, they were trying to remove the scarab but with little success, and it was confirmed that the scarab was on and on for good.

"Almost ready?" Dick asked.

"Yeah I have locations on all the cameras, just seeing what their second level security system is like," I typed away at the keys. The doors of the warehouse opened and Alpha squad came in, I smiled at Tim as he past, I wondered did Cassie talk to him yet.

"Ok Alpha," I turned to them, "Any partnership between The Reach and Lex Luthor is a bad news, so you are going undercover to recon LexCorp Farms. Robin you're heading Alpha," I said.

Tim looked shocked, "Me? Run Alpha? Em, right. Who's on the squad?"

"Blue Beetle," I said and Jaime recoiled.

"Whoa whoa whoa! I should not be in the field hesse! What if the scarab goes all Reach apocalypse on us?" He blurted out.

I walked over to him, "Your scarab has had multiple opportunities to betray us, it hasn't and right now it's connection to The Reach maybe our best shot at identifying what they're up to."

"Well if Blue's going then so am I!" Bart cut in front of me.

I grinned, "Thought as much, and last but not least Arsenal but you'll have to travel lighter for your first mission. Nothing that can't fit under civilian clothes." Roy, the original one, appeared out of a dark corner, he was now called Arsenal, and by the weaponry he carried he deserved the name. "Any questions?"

"Just one," Arsenal said, "Why are we meeting in this dump?"

"With the Cave and the Hall destroyed, we don't have many opinions." I answered crossing my arms, he was getting a little grumpy.

"Except the Watch Tower, it's national news now, you can't pretend it doesn't exist," He challenged.

"Only Justice Leaguers and senior members of the Team have authorisation to the Watch Tower, you don't qualify," I narrowed my eyes.

"Good to know where we stand," He said and left the warehouse to the transport. The rest of Alpha followed him out.

I shook my head and sighed, "Wow, he's a piece of work, I sorta miss Red."

Dick laughed, "Yeah, but I suppose eight years on ice is enough to make anyone a little touchy."

"Well as long as he doesn't let effect him in missions, I don't want him jeopardising the Team," I looked at the computer getting the scanners and trackers of Alpha squad.

"Hmm," Dick said and stood behind me as I typed, he brushed my hair aside and kissed my neck, "Someone is a little touchy themselves today. Don't tell me you're turning into Bruce."

I stopped typing, "Ha ha, no I'm just concerned about a loose cannon being on a covert operation. Arsenal won't listen to Robin when the chips go down, I can see it. As much as Tim is a good leader, he doesn't command the respect that you, I, Conor or M'gann do just yet. If Arsenal blows this mission he is going to be looking at the business end of my Katana swords."

"Wow, I like this side of you," He grinned.

I shrugged him off, "Go on you pest, do something useful." I stuck out my tongue and dodged a playful ankle swipe.

From what I could see from the scanners that were coming off Alpha squad all was going well, they were heading into the main warehouse. It was now a waiting game until they could make their move. I went over to the small kitchen and boiled the kettle, I sighed and let my mind wander. I immediately thought of Dad, it had been months since he left, I wanted to see him, to hear his voice, just to have the security that if we messed up he was there to rescue us. But we were on our own, literally the fate of the world rested on our shoulders and it wasn't a feeling I was enjoying. I looked over my hot mug of tea at Dick and Conor, they were working on Conor's bike, he had managed to kill the clutch on it, again. I held the mug close in my hands letting the heat seep through, I took a sip and felt the warmth travel down my body, I sighed, tea was really the cure for everything as Alfred said. But a blinking light caught my eye on the computer screen. "Damn it!" I swore and ran over, Dick and Conor looked up, "I told you, I told you that Arsenal shouldn't be on the squad!" Tim had triggered his alarm in his belt, things were going bad quickly.

Dick took a look at the screen too, "Ok, get on to the Supercycle, we need to get to Smallville."

* * *

We skirted across the countryside heading for Kanas. I was annoyed, so annoyed. Dick handed over the controls to Conor and looked up at me, "Ok you were right, but we need to find out what is going, Tim sent a message saying that there was a new element to the mission."

I glared at him, "Fine, but Arsenal is on his final warning, he needs to get his head in the game."

Conor guided the Supercycle down on to a farm, I got a glimpse of the mail box, it read "Kent", we were at the Kent Farm, Superman or Clark Kent's adoptive parents. I saw there was a light on in the barn and we pushed open the door. Immediately drew my swords, "What is that?" I pointed to the newcomer. He was huge, and garbed in a green version of Blue's amour.

"He rescued us Blade, honestly, we would have been mince meat if he didn't show up, the Black Beetle was there," Impulse defended the newbie. I lowered my swords when Tim nodded.

Dick, Conor and I walked over to Mr. Kent, "Thanks sir for the use of your barn. Until we check out this Green Beetle we can't afford to bring him to our HQ, lost too many of those already."

Mr. Kent smiled and put his arm around Conor, "Well he's not the oddest thing we've had in this barn and I'll take any excuse to see one of my boys."

I smiled at them, Conor loved coming out to see the Kents whenever he could it was good to see how much they loved him. I always found the Kent's an amazing couple, they were just normal people from Kanas but they excepted the weird and wonderful with open arms and never judged. I sighed, if only the world was like that things might be easier.

We all turned our attention to the Green Beetle, it was starting to get like Josephs Technicolor Dream Coat with all the Beetles. "My name in B'arzz O'oomm and obviously I am of Mars," He said in a deep booming voice, similar to J'onn's.

"Obviously," Tim nodded, "But it's the Beetle thing that got us wondering. How are you connected to The Reach?" Good job Tim, I thought, get to the point cut and dry.

"I imagine my story is not dissimilar to yours," He looked over a Blue, "On Mars I am what you would call an Archaeologist. Two of your Earth years ago, I stubbled upon a scarab and it attached itself to my person."

"Yeah the last part sounds familiar," Jaime chuckled.

"From the scarab I learned of The Reach and their plan for the Galaxy," B'arzz told us, "Millennia ago they sent out one scarab to each planet sporting primitive life. The scarab bonds with and take full control of the host body giving The Reach an advance operative for their inevitable invasion."

"But my scarab malfunctioned and didn't take full control," Jaime said, "That's why The Reach wants to reboot it, by killing me."

"So did your scarab malfunction?" I asked.

B'arzz shook his head, "No, but it was not prepared for the Martian physiology, which allowed me to take control of the scarab, instead of the other way around."

Dick crossed his arms, "Still doesn't explain how you wound up here."

"For decades the one you call Martian Manhunter has sent communications from your world to ours, television signals, they are quiet entertaining," He smiled.

Tim leaned over to me, "Martians love TV." I suddenly realised he was the same height as me, I wish I could grow, I thought, this kid was only 15!

"Indeed, but when it became clear The Reach were on Earth I believed my assistance was needed," He said, but a questioned popped into the back of my mind, I decided to keep quiet until I could talk to Dick in private.

"The Justice League will need to confirm your story," Dick said.

"But for now, thanks," Tim added. The Martian bowed.

Dick touched my shoulder and got Tim's attention we waked a little bit away from the group, "So other then our new friend here, how did the mission go?" He and I knew full well about what happened but we wanted to hear it from Tim.

"Not quiet as planned. Arsenal…. is a little rough around the edges, but I guess it all worked out. And we brought back a sample of the Alien additive for analysis." Tim handed over a test tube, he handled that well not totally ratting out Arsenal but keeping it to himself. But I was sure he would rant to me later.

"Can't ask for more," I said taking the sample, "Good work."

The sample ran through the computer in the Batcave, I yawned and stretched. "Burning the midnight oil?" Tim's voice came from the stair well.

"Easy Shakespeare," I teased, "Just getting this sample done and start the preliminary checks. So how was Arsenal really?"

"Ugh," Tim grunted, "He was hot headed and never listened. He set a bomb off just as we were leaving, we would have been fine if he didn't mess it up!" He hopped on to a table watching me work.

"I told Dick when he was selecting the squad, but he wanted to see the good side in Roy. I wanted to as well, don't get me wrong, but I think Roy just needs a serious holiday to relax," I placed some liquid in a petri dish.

"That's just him really isn't it? Seeing the best in people," Tim grinned.

I nodded, "That's why I love him I suppose." Tim's cell phone bleeped in his pocket. "Who's that?"

He looked up from the screen, "Cassie, we're going to the movies tomorrow." I turned back to what I was doing, and mentally punched the air, good girl Cass.

"You go on Tim, I'll be up later," I gestured to the house.

He nodded, "Ok, night," He waved and walked towards the stairwell nose still in the screen of his cell phone.

"You going to bed Tim?" Dick asked walking down the stairs, Tim walked past him not replying, "What's with him?" I looked over as he walked over, he was just in sweat pants and a t-shirt he's hair messy, I smiled, I loved that look on him. He always looked so handsome in his uniform with the Nightwing eagle, but he looked damn right hot in casual clothes.

"Oh you know this and that," I shrugged, I didn't want to blab what I knew.

"You getting any closer with those samples?" He asked.

I finished putting the last of them in the test tube holder, "As far as I'm gonna get tonight anyways." I took the goggles off my eyes and set them down on the table.

"Well done," He said then pulled me to him.

"Ow! Ribs!" I yelped.

"Whoops! Sorry!" He lessened his grip and rested his hands on my lower back, I tilted my head up to meet his eyes. He reached over and took off my eye mask, I had totally forgotten that I was still in uniform, "Thats better," He smiled and kissed each eye.

I grinned, "Dick, I was thinking about what that Green Beetle said. He talked about how he saw The Reach coming from the TV signals that J'onn was sending, but the media didn't know about The Reach when J'onn was on planet, so how did he know?"

Dick thought for a second, "The link might have been a constant feed?"

I shook my head, "There are no satellites that transmit that, I checked, I would have to be a manual transfer."

"There are no flies on you is there? Well we can get M'gann to check him out and the League, so hopefully we'll find answers." He reassured, "Now can you please come up stairs? It is horribly boring up there."

I got up on to my tippy toes and kissed him, "Fine, but there better be food, you are starting to look like a hamburger."

* * *

The following day Tim, Dick and I made our way over to Star Labs in Taos, it was time to interview the new Beetle. We walked in to the room and already La'gann, Blue, Conor, Bart and Adam Strange were there, M'gann stood a little way away from everyone, I could see she was unhappy with the situation.

"Ok, lets begin," Adam said.

"I'm not comfortable with this," M'gann hesitated, "Delving into your mind, it's an invasion of privacy."

"You have my permission M'gann, we must be able to trust one another," He said and pulled his face into a horrific grin. I jumped back slightly, and so did M'gann.

"Did my smile displease? Is this not how humans convey friendship?" He asked. "Put people at ease?" I shivered, not that type of smile.

"There has to be another way," Conor said from behind me.

"Look I'm not sure what the Martian code of etiquette is here. Green Beetle is right we need to trust each other, which means we need to confirm his story, Miss M is our only way," Dick answered, put something just wasn't clicking in my head with this new guy.

"Please proceed with the mind link," Green Beetle told M'gann. I saw her take a breath to centre herself, after her encounter with Kaldur she was a little off her game. Her eyes lit up as did the Green Beetles.

There was silence for a minute then M'gann turned to us, "Green Beetle is on our side."

"Eh guys you need to see this," Bart said a flicked on the TV screen. There was an advert playing that had some awful jiggle but what they were advertising sent a shiver down my spine, The Reach were producing a drink and selling it to the public.

"What do you know about this?" I asked the Green Beetle.

He thought for a second, "This is a drink that contains The Reach's additive, which combines microscopic quantities of two substances. The first is a dopamine polymerase, the second is an adrenaline inhibitor, taken over generations they will slowly addict the entire population to Reach, and make the people of Earth placid, literally incapable of revolt."

"That matches up exactly to what Blade found on the tests she ran," Dick said motioning to me.

"Ah, I see, still I am tested," Green Beetle sighed.

"Look we're sorry but we can't afford to trust too easily, we have lost a lot," I said to him.

"Hmm I see why they call you Blade, but I understand, it is wise as they say on your world 'all cards must be off the table'," Green said.

"On the table,' Jaime burst out, "I mean never mind, ignore me."

"On the table," Green mused, "Yes, that does make more sense. So here is my final card on the table, my scarab informs me that the additive contains a mitochondrial marker that acts as a metta-gene tracer. Allowing The Reach to identify and isolate potential super powered individuals."

Dick's eyes went wide, "Making it easier to harvest and weaponise the metta-gene. Our analysis didn't reveal that, thank you."

Jaime spoke up, "Can't we go public with this?"

I turned to him, "We can pass it on to Captain Atom but the League's credibility is already at a record low at them moment. We will probably have to bide our time."

"Good work everyone," Dick said to the room, "Meeting adjourned."

Everyone left the room but Dick and I waited to talk to the Green Beetle, "Do you need a place to stay while you're on Earth?" He asked Green.

Green pulled back his armour and shape shifted into a man, "I will find a place here in Taos and attempt to blend in. It was good to meet you both," He shook our hands, "But you Blade, you have a suspicious mind, I could feel it across the room."

I shrugged, "Its in my nature, no hard feelings." After a good bye we finally made it out of Star Labs, I took Dick's hand and sighed.

"Rough day?" He asked.

"You could say that." I nodded but something cut us off.

"Lagoon Boy to Team! We're under attack at the Chicago Zeta Tube requesting back up." La'gann's voice came in over the radio.

I answered immediately, "We are three minutes away from a Zeta Tube, we're on our way." We took off back into Star Labs to the Zeta platforms. We grabbed Conor on the way and fired up the Zeta platform. I pushed open the door as the computer called out our ID's. I looked around for anyone, anything. Conor pointed and I followed his hand, La'gann was slumped against a wall. There was no sign of M'gann, we were too late. Oh M'gann, what have we done?

We managed to get La'gann in to a bed in the hospital in Chicago, he had a broken leg, he was lucky that was all he had after a tangle with Deathstroke.

"Neptune's beard let me go!" He shouted, Dick and Conor we're holding him down. "I've gotta save M'gann!"

"La'gann calm down!" Dick told him, "There's nothing you can do for her like this!"

"And what about him?!" La'gann looked up at Conor, "Why isn't he rescuing her? I know you dumped her but do you really hate her that much?!"

"You have no idea what I feel for her!" Conor shouted.

"You're right, because I would never abandon her to Kaldur and his flunkies!" La'gann retorted. "Because thats how took her, Aqua-traitor's personal ninja cow Tigress!" He was getting more and more wound up.

"Enough!" I walked over and touched La'gann on the shoulder, he instantly relaxed.

"How did you?" Conor looked at me.

"Indoor voices people please," I said rubbing my ear.

"We need to find M'gann," La'gann said, he's voice all sleepy, Conor nodded.

Dick sighed, "I'm not supposed to tell you, to tell anyone…."

"Nightwing, are you sure?" I asks him.

He nodded, "Kaldur isn't a traitor."

"He killed Artemis!" Conor threw his hands in the air.

"No he didn't Aqualad has been on a deep cover mission for months," Dick sat down in the chair next to La'gann's bed, I put my hand on his shoulder, this wasn't going to be an easy conversation, "He has been infiltrating Black Manta's troops, The Light and The Reach. We fake Artemis's death, she's alive, in fact Artemis is Tigress, and if she took Miss M there has to be a good reason."

The touch was wearing off La'gann, "And why am I only hearing about his now, I morned Artemis. Neptune's beard, I tried to tear Kaldur limb from limb! You should have told me!"

"No, Nightwing's our leader we put our trust in him, I'm sure he didn't keep from us, from all of us without having his reasons," Conor came to Dick's defence.

"La'gann, I didn't know about this either, I found out by mistake, the less people that know the easier it is and safer it is for Kaldur and Artemis," I said to him, trying to get him to relax.

"Look we will figure this out, together, in the mean time get some rest," Dick put his hand on La'gann's shoulder and we followed Conor out of the room and shut the door. He turned to Conor, "Thanks for backing me up in there."

Conor turned, his face full of anger, "You don't leave a guy a lota options. You have no idea what you're secrets have done to us!"

"What does that mean?" Dick asked.

"M'gann had believed that Kadur killed Artemis, so when she found him on The Reach ship she fried his brain!" Conor said. "That's gotta be why Artemis grabbed her to try and save Kaldur's broken mind. But M'gann doesn't know how to do that, so Manta may just kill her and kill Tigress if she blows her cover trying to save her, and we'll have lost all three of them because you thought I was a bad idea to share." Conor walked off down the corridor. My jaw was open slightly from what he had said, I dreaded to think what Dick was feeling. But I stood in front of him and pulled his face down to mine and kissed him. He was shocked at first but then kissed me back.

"What was that for?" He asked.

"Because I'm proud of you. You are only one man, and no matter what anyone says you are going your best. Kaldur and Artemis know the risks and I have every faith that M'gann will pull through, she is more than she thinks she is." I smiled at him. "Now I think that we need to head home and you need to shower and eat, I don't think I remember the last time we all sat down for dinner. No, no, we are doing this, I'm calling Tim and Alfred, so shut it Grayson." I pulled out my cell and started dialling, just one normal night would be nice.


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's note: This one is a little short, but there is a good bit of action, wanted to save the rest and more for the next ones! Enjoy! **

* * *

"Higher Tim, I could easily get you from there," I shouted as Tim went through the exercise again. He voluted off his staff and flipped into the air kicking off a target placed on the wall. The next part of the exercise was to try and get past me, he had failed at each attempt. I hit him with the blunt of my Katana and he crashed to the ground, "Dead again." I grinned down at him.

He pulled himself to his feet, "Ugh, I just can't."

"If you can't get past me you haven't a hope of getting past Dick," I laughed, "Don't worry, its a hard combination, took me weeks to get and I had to get past Dad, so you should have it down in no time."

"Practice times over," Dick walked in to the Batcave pulling on his gauntlets, "We're needed on the Watch Tower Alex, it seems urgent." He strode off towards the Zeta Tube.

I patted Tim on the shoulder, "See you later kid." I reached behind my head and sheathed my Katana swords, then put my mask on over my eyes.

It wasn't long before we heard "Recognised Nightwing B01, Blade B04," as we walked in to the Watch Tower. Captain Atom, Aquaman, Conor and Dinah were waiting for us.

"Hello you two, good we're all here," Cap said then brought up a read out of a scanner, my jaw dropped a little, what the scanner was picking up seemed to be almost as big as the moon but it moved of its own accord, "We've been tracking something from our long range scanners, its on a direct course to Earth. It is about to pass in front of Rhea one of the moons of Saturn."

"Not in front of Rhea, behind it!" I exclaimed, "That thing whatever it is, is huge! But what could it want with us? How much longer until it is in range of communication?" I turned to Cap.

"Only a couple of hours, it is travelling extremely fast," He answered.

"We need to mobilise teams," Aquaman spoke, "How many can we get together?"

I looked up at Dick, out of our Team there was enough for three or four small squads, "We have small numbers so we are going to have to plan this well." Dick answered, "I'll put a call out of our Team to get here." He disappeared off to recall everyone, Dinah went and did the same for The League.

I waited and looked up at the world-like thing that was coming towards us, I had no doubt in my mind that The Reach brought this here, brought this on us. My brain was going into over drive, I took a few deep breaths and thought over what our options were. I heard the computer call out names as people arrived, I looked around to see, La'gann, Conor, Blue Beetle, Impulse, Beast Boy, Bumble Bee, Wolf, Guardian, Doctor Fate, Captain Marvel and more by the second.

Captain Atom called Dick and I over, "We have information from Green Beetle, he says that this thing is called the War World, it is a massive artificial satellite slightly smaller than Earth's moon, it is a mobile doomsday weapon. Created millennia ago by a now extinct alien race, it is self powering and self sustaining, thanks to an endless supply of worker drones providing repair and battle drones providing security. The War World was reactivated by a crystal key long thought lost yet some how the War World's current commander found it, that commander, Mongal, now sits at the helm which receives and transmits every thought, allowing him to control all of the War World's functions, power, weapons, drones, without moving a muscle."

I shook my head, "Who is this Mongal?"

"According to Green, long ago he was the soul dictator of his home planet, but he was kicked out by another tyrant and is determined to reclaim his throne." Cap relayed the information.

"So what does that have to do with us?" Dick crossed his arms.

Cap continued, "Mongal has determined that the surest way to take back his world is to first conquer the entire Galaxy, so we can only assume that he sees Earth as a threat to his goal."

"Because of The Reach," I hissed, "He is now coming here with enough fire power to obliterate the entire Planet!"

The computer screens started to fill up with news channels from around the world, mass panic was starting as the World World drew nearer. Some members of the League had to return to Earth as the World World was creating a gravitational pull and creating freak tidal waves causing havoc.

"Gather around everyone," Captain Atom called. Everyone stood around in a semi-circle, Dick and I stood beside him, I could see them all twitching with nervous energy, "Alright, we well be splitting you all in to squads. Superboy, Wondergirl, Arsenal and Wolf, you are all Alpha, and you will be taking down Mongal. Blue Beetle, Impulse and Beast Boy, you are Beta, your mission is to head to the key chamber and disarm the War World. Gamma is Guardian and Bumble Bee, you will take the Supercycle and disable the power core. Robin and Batgirl, you're Delta, you will take the Bioship and create cover fire."

Barbara coughed, "Slight problem with that plan, Robin and I aren't the best at piloting the Bioship."

I took a breath, "I'll lead Delta squad and pilot the Ship."

"Settled then, thank you Blade. Finally, Doctor Fate, Captain Marvel, Green Beetle and myself will be attacking from the outside." Atom told us, "Right if everyone is agreed, to your stations." They all went in various directions, I went to follow Barbara and Tim to the Bioship but someone caught my arm.

"What are you doing?" Dick hissed.

"I'm doing my job, they need me so I'm going," I stared up at him.

"But you need to be here helping me," He said.

"Dick we both know that that isn't true, I will be fine, honestly babe," I smiled up at him, then pulled him down by the front of his suit and kissed him, "I love you." He grinned and I walked over to Tim and Barbara, "You guys ready? Lets go."

I guided the Bioship towards the War World, it seemed to get larger as we approached. I gave a small smile to Tim and Barbara, "It's gonna be all good guys." I just hoped I was right. I put the ship into stealth mode and managed to dock it on the ship. It was now up to Blue. He bypassed the security system and gained access without Mongal realising they were inside, "Ok guys, deploy and stay safe." Once the doors sealed shut I powered the ship away from the docking bays and outwards to get a proper observation of the War World.

"Alpha squad in position," Conor came through the radio.

Then Blue, "Beta squad on our way."

Followed by, "Gamma squad copy and heading for the core."

I ended the check in, "Delta squad in orbit and ready to give cover fire."

Captain Atom was going to make a call out to Mongal, mainly as a distraction. Sure enough he's voice came over the radio, "Attention War World. This is Captain Atom of the Justice League representing the Planet Earth we wish to open negotiations."

What answered him was a voice that sent chills down my spine, it was the sound of nightmares, a deep ominous voice that would make anyone look behind their shoulder. "But I am not interested in negotiations. The Earth under The Reach's thumb is too dangerous for my long term plans. It must be destroyed and frankly if you understood what you were in for with The Reach, you'd thank me for putting you out of your misery, now."

I tensed my jaw and shook my head, I told them, I knew that this was all The Reach's fault, they had brought this on Earth and now they are going to pay the price with us all. This madman was going to put us down like some injured dog. But what he wasn't betting on what this old dog had some fight left in her, the Earth wasn't going away that easily. Before my eyes the centre of the War World began to open up, it looked like a sinister smile. Jagged edges parted like teeth to reveal the biggest gun I had ever seen, it was about half the size of the War World itself. I saw Barbara and Tim shift in their seats, "Don't worry, we got this." I said trying to sound as convincing as I could.

Light began to travel down the shaft of the gun and power up the laser at the end, this was it. But out of a beam of light fate intervened, well Doctor Fate. He held up his cross and it absorbed the blast then shot it back at the War World, smashing the gun into pieces. Mongal seemed to have a backup plan as missile launchers came out from the sides of the ship and began to sent a rain of missiles down towards Fate. As they hit there was a blinding white light, I gulped, did Mongal get Fate? Why did I even doubt the Doctor? The light cleared and Fate was joined by Rocket, she protected Fate with a shield allowing him to focus attention on the War World, and out of the portal behind them came Captain Atom, Green Beetle and Captain Marvel. They began taking out missiles and the launchers themselves. I began to power up the Bioship, "You guys ready? Power up the guns, and take aim. Just keep firing at all targets."

"Not sure we're doing much damage in the grand scheme," Captain Atom came over the radio, as he flew around taking out missiles,"But with Rocket helping Doctor Fate, Green Beetle, Captain Marvel and I seem to have Mogals attention."

"Good, keep it up," Dick responded, "The Team are nearly at their targets."

Conor checked in, "Alpha squad to Watch Tower. Green Beetle's plans were right on the money at least so far, we are on route to take down Mongal. No commander, the threat ends."

"Beta squad is on route to the key chamber, we snag the key the power will fault," Blue give their status.

Karen followed up, "Gamma squad is on route to disable the power core."

It was my turn then, "Delta squad is coming to position, laying down cover fire for surface forces, now." I let the Bioship dive but kept it in stealth mode, "Fire at will." I told Barbara and Tim. We were getting some of the missiles and launchers but not many. I veered the ship away from a missile, that was close, I wiped my forehead.

Things seemed to be going well, our defences hadn't broken. But I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up. Holes appeared in the side of the War World and poking out of them were giant bombs, "That's pretty much all the weapons he has," Tim said firing still at what he could.

I nodded and ran a check on the computer, "Delta to Watch Tower. Nightwing, I ran some checks and the Bioship estimates that Fate, The League and Delta are neutralising 64% of the War World's saturation attack at the source. That's not going to cut it."

"The Watch Tower estimates that Earth's military forces will neutralise a further 13%," Dick answered, "But a 23% saturation is enough to take out a hemisphere."

I looked at the Team fighting outside on the surface, then I looked at Tim and Barbara trying their best, was this all in vain? I turned off the group radio link and spoke, "What do we do?"

Dick was quite for a second, "I have no idea babe, hope for a miracle at this stage. But don't give up, keep fighting."

"Always," I smiled. I looked down at Earth, our blue planet, it was dotted with clouds and land, so beautiful from up here, I thought. But I looked closer, something was moving down there, coming up from the Philippine Sea. "Oh my god," I breathed, "I knew it!" The Reach's invasion force it was coming out of the sea, masses of blue beetle like ships came up from the sea and flew upwards towards the battle.

"Well it looks like the miracle is here," Dick said to me.

Within minutes the missiles were deflected and destroyed, as much as it killed me to admit it, if it wasn't for The Reach we would have been lost.

"All surface weapons have been silenced, is it over?" Captain Atom asked, looking down I could see stillness had befallen the surface of the War World.

"Alpha squad has neutralised Mongul and he is contained," Conor informed us.

I grinned, "Nice work Alpha!"

"Love to take credit but we didn't do it, his own machine's stung him, I'm guessing with a little help from Bumble Bee?" Conor admitted.

"Great job guys!" Dick said, I could practically hear him smiling, "Now rendezvous at the meeting point and lets get you home."

I turned the Bioship and headed back towards the docking bay where we had dropped off the squads, "Listen Tim, Babs, before everyone gets here I just wanted to say I'm so proud of you both, this mission wasn't easy, but you handled it well."

"Thanks Alex, you weren't too bad yourself," Tim grinned.

I docked the Bioship and we walked out to see the others, already waiting was Blue, Impulse, BB, Bumbe Bee and Guardian. "Whoo! Do we rock!?" I punched the air.

"Girl was there ever any doubt!?" Karen hollered back.

"Not over here!" Mal smiled, "Hey, wheres Alpha?" He looked around.

"Trudging along with the Big Bad he must weigh like a metric tonne! We're just a couple of minutes out," Arsenal answered over the radio.

I put my arm around BB's shoulder and gave him a squeeze, "Ok Team lets get everything loaded up and on to the BioShip, we need to get strong restraints for Mongul too."

I turned to look over at Karen and Mal, Karen leaned up and kissed Mal, I smiled thinking about Dick back at the Watch Tower, I couldn't wait to see him.

"Wow, how do I get that reward?" Arsenal walked in along with Wolf, Cass and Conor were carrying Mongul. Cassie lend up and kissed his cheek. "It's a start." He grinned.

"Well the gangs all here," Blue spoke out and rubbed his hands together. Suddenly he took the crystal key and hit Impulse over the head, knocking him out.

I drew my Katanas, "Blue! What the hell!?" He shot his sonic towards Barbara, Gar and me, I flipped up in the air and grabbed some piping making it clear of the sonic, but Babs and Gar weren't so lucky, they lay uncurious on the floor. Blue shot towards Conor sending him careering across the room, then he lifted Mongal and trapped Cassie underneath him then locking her down with those staple, like the ones Black Beetle created. Tim shot a birdarang at his back and stood in front of Karen. I ran over to Arsenal, "Roy, get it together." I hissed at him.

"No, no, not again!" He said almost to himself. He started backing away towards the hanger door.

"Roy! Arsenal! No!" I shouted.

"I will not be taken again!" He turned and before I could stop him he released the hanger door. Before I knew what was happening I was in a vacuum, I was about to be sucked out to space. There was no air, I couldn't breath. I reached to my belt with all the strength I had a got a hold of my cable gun. Tim was holding Karen but I could see he was slipping. No, not Tim, not another person, not after Jason, I pleased to myself. Blue managed to hit the button and the hatch closed, but everyone was knocked to the floor and was out cold.

"Why?" Conor gasped.

"Don't waste the oxygen hermano, there's very little in here," Blue jeered.

I gasped, my head felt light, but there was no way I was going down without a fight. I felt in my belt my rebreather and stuck it in my month. Oxygen flowed in to my lungs and my head cleared. I grasped the trigger in my cable gun and picked a spot near the door, I pulled the trigger and the line shot out and took hold. Arsenal had already ran out, I stood to go but Blue saw me.

"And where do you think you are going Blade? Where is your precious Nightwing now?" He aimed his sonic at me, I braced for impact.

"Blade run!" Conor shouted and knocked Blue sideways.

"But Conor!" I didn't want to leave him.

"No arguments! Go now!" He shouted and turned to face Blue. I pulled the trigger and flew through the air towards the door. I landed and ran, I had to keep running and catch up with Arsenal, then we needed to find a way to contact The Watch Tower and rescue the Team.


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's Note: Hi all! Enjoy this one! We are nearing the end of season 2! But never fear I shall be continuing on with the storyline. So as ways review and let me know what you think, and thanks so much for reading! **

* * *

I pulled the rebreather out of my mouth and kept running, panic was rising ever further in my throat. A voice came in to my head, it sounded like Dad, 'Alex get a grip, focus, you need to stay sharp'. I skidded to a halt and looked around, a noise caught my attention. I pulled my Katana's from my back and I looked up, "Who's there? Show yourself."

"Relax Blade," Arsenal dropped to the floor.

"Relax! You have the balls to tell me to relax! Are you serious!? What the hell just happened back there? You were like a dog backed in to a corner!" I was so angry, I could feel my fingers itching to hit him with my Katanas.

"Hey hey hey!" He held up his hands in defence, "I have spent eight years on ice, there was no way it was going to happen again!"

"And what's your plan now genius!? We are on a space station with no way of getting home!" I was fuming.

"We keep moving and find a line of communication," He said as simply as if he was ordering pizza, "Now come on." He grabbed my arm.

I dug my heels in, "I'm not going."

"Eh why? Look I'm sorry, if that's what you're looking for," He tugged my arm again.

"No, I'm not going because our best bet is to go back to the hanger and wait, Blue is going to fake being the victim when Nightwing and Cap show up, and I'm going to be there to surprise them," I ripped my arm from his grip.

"Oh yeah, and how are you going to get back?" He crossed his arms.

Damn, he had a point, I had no idea which way I ran and which way was back, but I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction, "I'll find a away, Batman used to leave me in the worst parts of Gotham on my own when I was ten and make me find my way home. This should be similar and probably less dangerous. So are you in or out?"

"Out," He growled, "There is no way I'm going back there, see you later or maybe not, its going to be your funeral."

I rolled my eyes, "Arsenal, if I wanted to kill myself I'd jump from your ego to your IQ." I turned on my heel and sprinted back the way I came leaving Arsenal in a stunned silence.

I jogged down a corridor that looked some what familiar, but then again then all did, every one of them looked the same. I stopped, I was lost, so lost. This place was nearly the same size of the moon and I had to find one room in it, it was like the biggest game of 'Where's Waldo' ever. I began to jog again but my eye fell on a power outlet, perfect. I knelt down and plugged in my gauntlet and then brought up the plans, I searched down threw the levels and stopped, darn it! I swore, I found the docking bay and turned on the thermal imager, I could see multiple shapes. I needed to hack into the cameras, one or two quick movements on the keys and I was threw. The camera showed me what I didn't want to see, Green Beetle, Blue, Dick, Captain Atom and Doctor Fate, they had used a boom tube to get up to the War World. I needed to get down there quickly before anything happened, and from what I could see there was no sign of the Team. I punched in the co-ordinates into my GPS and stood up, but something was coming, I could hear it. I stood in to an alcove and waited, the foot prints came closer, I waited the adrenaline building upside me.

"Who goes there!" A voice shouted. Time was up. I jumped out from the alcove and pulled my Katana's from their sheaths. The guards shot at me with laser guns, the beans boring holes in the wall behind me. I flipped out of the way and double kicked them in the heads. I landed and turned to launch again. I ran at one of them and used one of my swords as a pole vault and kicked him square in the chest, he fell but kept his finger on the trigger shooting his friend in the leg. Both dropped to the floor unconscious, I sheathed my swords and looked down. They looked like they were from The Reach, they were here already, not good, not good at all.

After about a half an hour and getting lost twice I found myself at the docking bay again. I stopped and crept into the shadows, I didn't want to be surprised. I hid behind some crates, no one seemed to be here, was I too late? But motion from above on the walkway caught my eye. I knew that black suit and walk anywhere, it was Dick. He was looking at the computer in his gauntlet, but something seemed to have caught his eye, he leapt down and landed on his hunkers and looked at the floor, tracing something with his fingers. He stood and looked around then he spotted the broken control panel at the hanger door.

"Air locks damaged," He said out loud, then he saw something to his left and bent to pick it up, "Robin's birdarang." He began to scan it on his computer, "It must have scratched Blue's armour."

"Did more than that," I said stepping out from behind the crates.

Dick jumped and spun around, "You're… you're."

"Here, alive, not captured? Yeah they couldn't get me that easy," I grinned. He shook his head, lost for words. I ran over to him and he opened his arms and caught me. He spun me in a hug, the birdarang clattered to the floor. I could feel he was upset, "I'm ok babe, I'm here." He lowered me to the floor, I kept my arms around his neck and he leaned down and kissed me.

"I thought they'd got you, I thought you were gone," He finally managed to say.

"I'm the daughter of Batman and an assassin, they'd have to do harder than that," I smiled up at him and ran my finger down his jaw line. "But we need to get home now, Blue was playing us all."

"Wait what do you mean?" He asked.

"It was all his fault, once we were all here and about to board the BioShip when he just turned, he sonic'd everyone, only me and Arsenal got away but he decided that he knew best and left, I haven't a clue where he is now." Everything that happened came out at ninety miles an hour.

Dick's eyes went wide, "So you have no idea where the Team are?" I shook my head, "Ok we need to get back to Earth asap and you need to tell Captain Atom all this."

"Of course, is the BioShip still docked?" I asked, and by the grace of god it was. We flew away from the docking bay and turned on the radio.

"Captain Atom, this is Blade and Nightwing, do you copy?" I called out.

Seconds later Cap's voice replied, "Blade? You're alright? What happened?"

"Long story, rendezvous at the warehouse, I have a lot to fill you in on, over and out." I lent back in the seat letting it take my weight, my eyes felt heavy in their sockets.

"Sleep for a bit if you want, we won't be in Bludhaven for at least another hour and a half at top speed," Dick told me gently. I nodded and curled my legs up on the seat, I blocked out the screams from the Team, the feeling of the vacuum pulling against me, the look in Conor's eyes as he lost to Blue, I had to sleep and sleep took me.

* * *

"Babe, wake up, we're back," I jumped awake, "Easy, relax, we're in the warehouse." He took his hand off my shoulder.

I sat up and looked at Dick, then realised I was on a bed, "How did I…?"

"You were exhausted, you needed rest so I carried you up here and told Captain Atom to wait," He told me and I gave him a look, "You're small and weigh nothing." He grinned.

I hopped down off the bed and rolled my neck, "How long was I out?"

"Only a couple of hours, you sleep like Bruce, both of you are like the energiser bunny, power nap and you're both good to go for another two days straight," He teased.

I went to the computer and radioed Captain Atom to tell him to come to the warehouse. He was there in minutes via the Zeta Tube. I told him everything, Blue's plan, The Reach already being on the War World, Arsenal's freak out moment and that the Team had to still be on board somewhere.

"Well this all comes as a shock," Cap sighed, "We're going to have to plan a rescue mission."

'Well its going to be hard now seeing as Blue is now The Reach's golden boy!" Dick said with venom in his voice.

"Not totally impossible, I have struck a deal with The Reach which allows us to have members of the Justice League on the War World as sentries. But I doubt that it would be enough to hold a rescue," Cap told us.

"I might be able to help with that," We whipped around and standing before us was M'gann.

"M'gann!" I shouted and ran over to her, hugging her close, "How did you escape?"

"With a little help," She smiled.

"Well if you're willing, then we should move out straight away," Dick walked over, "I'm glad you're back M'gann."

* * *

We circled the War World again in the area that the Team were last seen in, Dick was at the helm and I sat keeping an eye on the scanners, while M'gann looked for the Team with her mind.

"Anything?" Dick asked her.

M'gann sighed, "No, I'm sorry. I can't sense anyone, but the War World is so vast they could easily be out of range."

"We've been flying this surface grid pattern for hours, and you're exhausted," Dick sympathised.

"I'm fine, I can do this!" She answered quickly.

Dick held up his hands in defence, "Of course, of course! But there's no need to over tax yourself so soon after your kidnapping. Besides we're not giving up we'll start over where the Team first disappeared and look for a new lead." He put his hand back on the controls and began to pilot the ship down towards the docking bays.

I looked over at M'gann, she looked so lost, I got out of my seat and went over to her, "M'gann?" I called to her with my mind, "Are you ok?"

"I know what Nightwing did," She answered her voice echoing in my head.

"What do you mean?" I tried to play dumb.

"Faking Artemis's death, Kaldur, everything. Why didn't he tell us?" She hung her head, "I thought we all trusted each other."

"We do M'gann, he didn't even tell me, I found out myself. But you have to see it from Kaldur and Dick's side, too many cook spoil the broth, if too many people knew then it would leek out and then Kaldur's life would have been in danger," I hoped she would see why Dick lied.

She paused for a second, "I know, its just a messed up situation." I nodded, there was nothing more I could say, she pretty much just summed it up.

We docked back on the War World and walked into the docking bay. Nothing had changed and no one was there, which I suppose was a blessing. Dick went straight on to his scanners and looked around, I decided to take a different approach and went high. I shot a cable in to the ceiling above and flew into the air landing on a platform. I looked down at the area from a birds eye view, it was a large room, but I could place everything from earlier.

"Nightwing," I shouted down, "A little more to the left, that's where Blue shot the sonics." I was now the guide from above.

I sat down and watched them check it out, I thought it was best that I didn't get involved, I had been there so I was biased on the evidence found.

"Haven't you already scanned every inch of this place?" M'gann asked Dick.

"Yeah but I'm obviously capable of missing clues. If Blade hadn't dropped in when she did we wouldn't have half the information we have now," Dick said scanning the floor. "I totally should have seen Blue's defection after Green 'fixed' his scarab."

M'gann walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder, "That was my fault. You asked me to scan Green's mind and I vouched for him without delving deeper. I was so afraid to use my powers after what I did to Kaldur. I allowed Green Beetle and his scarab to feed me exactly what The Reach wanted us to believe, so Blue trusted Green and was turned by him, and some how abducted the Team. All on me." She hung her head in shame, my heart went out to her.

Dick turned to her and took her shoulders in his hands, "Except you never would have been in that position if I had trusted you with the secret in the first place. I put you, Aqualad, Artemis, Blade, the whole Team in unacceptable danger."

That was it, I leapt off the platform tucking and landing on my hunkers, "Firstly, I can look after myself Dick Grayson, you needn't be guilty about me, and what's this the Dick and M'gann guilt off? Look we all make mistakes, and we all need to get over ourselves. Save the Team, then save Blue." I took Dick's hand and squeezed it, "As a certain ten year old was once fond of saying 'That's just what we do'." I leaned up and kissed his neck, "Come on we need to find everyone." I smiled at M'gann.

"Thanks," She said in my head."

"What are friends for?" I answered. Then out of no where a horrible noise grated against the door. We all jumped and braced ourselves. But a familiar sound came through Dick's computer, Sphere! The wonderful little round robot came into the room, if she had a tail she'd be wagging it. M'gann hugged the robot and I gave it a firm pat. "Where have you been Sphere? Wait can you take us to Superboy and the others?" Sphere revved and transformed into the Supercycle, "I'll take that as a yes."

The SuperCycle took us down through the War World, my leg was twitching with nervous excitement, we were getting the Team back. The cycle rounded the corner and we had a problem, a whole squadron of problems. The Reach's soldiers barred the doorway. I was the first to move before they did. I stood up on the Supercycle and motioned to Dick, he cupped his hands and threw me into the air. I flipped and went towards the other wall, I extended my legs and rebounded off the wall, then flew towards them like a bullet. I pulled my Katanas out and took out two soldiers before I even hit the ground. They fired shots at me but I spun the swords around my body like a plane propeller, the bullets ricocheted off them and back in to their deliverers. I saw Dick fighting back a few with his eskrima sticks, they didn't stand a chance Dick was too fast. And of course they were powerless against M'gann. They were all out within minutes, but just as we took down that squadron the door opened in front of us. We braced for another bout. But what greeted us was the best sight I could have ever seen, it was the Team.

A huge smile spread across my face, they were all there, alive. Cassie was helping Tim, I caught her eye and she mouthed 'he's ok'.

Arsenal glared at me as he strode over to Dick, "Hey fearless leader, better late than never."

"Everyone safe?" Dick asked, not rising to the jab.

"For now," Arsenal responded.

"And the crystal key?" I asked.

He turned to me, "Gone, and we better get gone too before one of them declares a winner!" He gestured behind him where the Black Beetle was getting his ass handed to him by Mongal.

"Right move out," Dick motioned to everyone.

* * *

"Ok everyone, all aboard, we're almost home free," I said to the last of the Team getting on to the BioShip, I patted Impulse on the shoulder as he past, then turned to the four newbies that had shown up. They had been the kids that were taken by The Reach and their metta-genes had been activated.

"I think congratulations are in order," Dick turned to them, "No training, no guidance and yet you pulled it off. And when we get back after a debrief their might be a place for all of you on the Team."

"Wow," One of them spoke, "Really?"

Then another, that was Jaime's friend, chipped in, "So now that we saved your butts you're cool with us not being Starr Labs guinea pigs?"

"Dude chill," said the first.

Arsenal cut in, "When we get back we need to talk about Blue Beetle, he betrayed us."

"Look who's talking," I crossed my arms and stood beside Dick, "You were the one that blew the air lock without warning then ran off, you nearly got the whole team killed and guaranteed everyones capture." I could feel Dick tensed beside me, the anger was radiating off him.

"You know why I did that! After eight years on ice I wasn't going back!" Arsenal retorted. "And incase you didn't notice my escape resulted in the Team getting freed, you just ran back to Nightwing!"

"You're right Arsenal," Dick said softy, "Thank you for freeing the Team, and after we get back to Earth You. Are. Off. The. Team." He narrowed his eyes.

"Wait wait!`' Jaime's friend piped up, "If it wasn't for Arsenal we wouldn't have rescued anyone."

"That may be, but this isn't the first time that he's pulled this kind of stunt. Intentionally endangering the lives of team mates in order to further his own agenda or guard against his own personal demons. Its unacceptable. So until you prove yourself a team player you have no place on this team," Dick said firmly, "Now lets get aboard and get out of here, we can discuss this further when we are not behind enemy lines." He walked past Arsenal towards the BioShip, I turned to follow.

One of the metta-genes spoke, "Sounds like theres nothing left to discuss. See we don't need your help getting back to Earth, we have our own way of doing things. Arsenal you wanna ride with us?"

I looked up a Dick, what had they got? Come to think of it, how did they get here in the first place. The girl took out a small box from her pocket, I recognised it, oh no, "Wait is that?" I went to reach for it.

"Home please," She said to it and they were gone in a flash.

* * *

The flight home was quiet, no one wanted to talk. I didn't push them, it had been extremely hard on everyone. We landed in Bludhaven, and entered the warehouse. Dick and I walked over to the computer, Impulse cut in front of us. "I know this missing key is a big deal but we need to find Blue.."

Dick turned on the computer showing a news feed about the man himself. Blue was getting the International Medal of Valour from the General Secretary of the UN. Great, I thought, just great.

"That's a lot of good press for a traitor," Tim said from behind us.

"Don't blame Blue, it isn't his fault, he is just as much a captive as we were," Impulse jumped to his defence. "We have to set him free. You know, before he conquers the Earth and enslaves all man kind."

He had a pointed but the Team was exhausted, I turned to them all, "Everyone, you are all tired, go home and get some rest we will regroup tomorrow and lay down a plan, but for now everyone take a break."

Tim, Dick and I made it back to the Batcave, Alfred was practically beside himself with worry. But in true Alfred style all was calm in minutes and he had a warm dinner on and the fires going in our rooms. I made my way to my room and peeled off my suit, I discarded it on the floor and walked over to the shower. Hot water flowed downwards and I eased myself under the water. I rolled out my shoulders and let the water wash away all the dirt and grime of the mission. Once the room was filled with steam I turned off the shower and pulled a brush through my hair, it was almost half way down by back now, I wrapped a large fluffy towel around my body. I walked out to my room and Alfred had left some tea by the fire, I smiled, he was too good to me. I heard a gentle knock on the door, "It's open," I said. Dick came in a shut the door behind him.

"You ok?" He asked.

I turned to face him, he was still in his uniform, "Yeah I'm fine, but babe go change, works over for now." But instead of turning to leave he walked over and pulled me into a hug.

"I thought I'd lost you today," He said quietly.

I rested my head on his chest, "You know its will take a lot to take me out." I heard him chuckle and he kissed my head. I looked up at him, "Stay here tonight?"

"Of course," He leaned down and kissed me, I felt his hands wind their way down to my towel, I just let it drop, "Whoa," He said.

I smiled up at him and reached up taking his mask off, "I know where you were going with this, after mission sex is probably the best." That familiar cheeky grin appeared on his face, he picked me up and my legs wrapped around his waist.

"Well then, we're just gonna have to top anything we've done before," He kissed my neck. I laughed as he walked towards the bed. After anything we go through, some how we get to pretend that we're a normal couple.


	19. Chapter 19

Author's note: Hi all, enjoy this one!

* * *

Light flooded through the curtains, I blinked a couple of times. Where am I, I thought, then I remembered, I was home. I was warm and cosy under the covers, I yawned and stretched my legs then snuggled closer to Dick's chest and looped my arm across him. He moved in his sleep and draped his arm around me again. I looked up at his sleeping face, he looked relaxed and at ease, but I knew as soon as he woke up he would be on high alert again, much like all of us really. He blinked and opened his eyes, "Morning," He smiled sleepily pulling me into a hug. I reached up and kissed him.

"Sleep ok?" I asked.

He nodded, "Yeah, well thanks to you."

I rolled my eyes, "Cheeky!"

He laughed then sat up, "So let get moving, we need to call the Team together." He went to get out of bed.

I wrapped my legs around his and pushed him back down with my arm, "Not a chance Grayson, it is 8am, no one will be awake and they want some time off, and that goes for you too. So suck it up and stay here with me," I raised my eye brows and reached across him to get the remote to the TV and flicked it on, "Now no news channel, we're watching a movie."

He kissed my head, "You know what? This is why I love you."

I smiled, someone needed to try and bring us back to Earth.

* * *

"Ok Alpha squad, this is going to be a tough mission and I need everyones head in the game," I turned to the Team. "I will be leading the squad and Impulse and I will be making the first move in El Paso, then we need Rocket and you Zatana. Once we enter the cave in Bialya, Robin you, BB, Wondergirl and Bumble Bee will be waiting for us, don't blow your cover," I gave Cassie a look, "So are we all clear on tasks?" The team nodded, "Good, move out and lets bring Blue home."

* * *

Impulse and I waited on top of a building a deserted street in Downtown El Paso. I looked into the sky waiting for Blue to cross our path. And bingo right on time. I took aim and shot a cord at his feet then quickly wrapped it around the chimney of the building so I could hold him securely.

"Blade what are you doing? You know this won't hold us," Blue shouted down at me, it didn't really sound like Jaime talking, just his voice was the same, but the pitch and rhythm was all wrong.

"It'll hold for a couple of seconds," I said then nodded to Impulse. "And a couple seconds…."

"Is more than I need," Bart finished and took off up the wire towards Blue. He ran as quick as lightening up and on to Blue's back, now it was a case of Blue Beetle rodeo. They plummeted to the ground and I ran to get there in time. I leaped off the building and swung on to a lamppost, landing on the ground before Blue.

"Sweet dreams Blue," I flicked a gas bomb at him as he lay on the ground, we waited as gas billowed around him, was that it? But before I could move quick enough a blue staple flew out of the gas and hit me straight in the stomach and pinned me to a tree. I was winded, I had to fake that I was knocked out, so I hung limp in the tree, but kept an eye on what was going on.

Impulse began to have his turn at taking out Blue, but like me he was pinned against a wall with the staple too. Blue walked over to us, he turned his arms into large knives almost like scythes, I gulped, he was going to kill us, come on Rocket. He raised his arm and I raised my cable gun, but as he brought it down a light blue bubble encircled him and he came down hard on the force field. Rocket was here, and not a moment too soon. He began hitting the force field but Rocket's tech didn't work that way, the more he hit it the stronger it got, I was surprised The Reach didn't know that already, but sure enough he stopped hitting the force field. He primed the sonic gun instead but I heard some familiar words, well backwards words, Zatana right on cue. Her spell draped over Rocket's force field and acted as a second skin, Blue couldn't break out, perfect.

"Eh Ze, a little help here," I asked her pointing to the staple, she waved her hands and they disintegrated letting us drop to the floor. I went over to Impulse and pulled him to his feet, "You ok Bart?"

He nodded, "That was some hit, why weren't you knocked out?"

I shrugged, "I suppose it's from years of getting thrown around Gotham by Killer Croc, Mr Freeze and Bane, you learn to absorb the pain. Ok lets get to the SuperCycle, we have a long trip ahead of us."

* * *

Below us the land began to get sandy and sparse, the familiar plains of Bialya were forming underneath us as we flew, we were almost there, so close to getting Blue back.

"Enjoy your advantage while you can, The Reach track my every move and when we're through with you there won't be enough left for a DNA identification," Blue threatened.

I had to laugh, "Is there a mute button on him at all?" I asked to no one in particular.

"Tell me our destination, and I'll make your death painless," He demanded. Not gonna happen, I said to myself, he'll just have to guess.

The familiar sight of the three hangers came in to view, it brought me back to a few months ago when myself, Cassie, Karen and M'gann were here and discovered something that was going to help us in our mission. I flew the Supercycle past the hangers and down in to the canyon that I almost ended up in when I was trying to fly a plane with no wings. Impulse took the controls of the guns and aimed them at the hanger door. They exploded open with one blast and I powered the Cycle down towards the runway.

"We've got company and I'm otherwise occupied with maintaining this bubble around Blue," Rocket said looking behind her.

"Chill Rock," Impulse said smiling, "We're prepped for Queen Bee's ten guards." He crotched in his seat getting ready to pounce. But Zatana spoke and the guns flew out of the guards hands. "I was going to do that!" Impulse moaned.

"You can still knock 'em out?" I suggested.

"Oh yeah! Crash!" He grinned and powered towards them like a bowling ball. But what he wasn't reckoning on was Devastation, one of Queen Bee's tanks, or should I say cronies. She grabbed his leg and hung him upside down. But before I could land the SuperCycle something broadsided us, I landed crotched to the ground.

"Rocket the force bubble!" I called out.

"Holding, but I'm a sitting duck!" She answered.

"You were fools to bring us here, Queen Bee is our ally and her minions will destroy you," Blue taunted us.

"Yeah Blade, next time I'm installing a mute button," Rocket rolled her eyes. But she didn't see Shimmer running at her from the right, I launched at her and rugby tackled her, sending her flying across the room. I dodged Shimmer's punch and then kicked her in the chest, she touched the ground and I realised that The Reach had got to her too, as she touched the ground she created a huge hole by boring through the ground. Zatana and Impulse were dealing with Blockbuster and Devastation, I had an idea. I pulled my cable gun from my belt and shot the cord at her leg and pulled. She fell straight down into the hole she had just created, I cut the line and Zatana had the same idea, she levitated Blockbuster and Devastation and hurled them into the hole. I quickly grabbed a capsule out of my belt and threw it in the hole, it filled up with solid unbreakable foam.

"Girlfriend, someday you are gonna have to tell me how you figure out those backwards words so fast!" Rocket told Zatana.

"What if backwards is my natural tongue?" Zatana answered.

"Seriously?" Rocket crossed her arms.

"Come on, lets get to work," I motioned to them. We made our way back up to the chamber that I had found the last time we were here. Zatana took her place in front of the Beetle that was on the wall. The chamber was as ancient as it looked before, I smiled to myself things were going to get mystical.

"Are you sure you got the power to do this?" Impulse asked.

Zatana looked at him, "Me? No." She walked up on to the platform below the beetle, "But I'll summon it from those that do." Rocket brought Blue down in front of her. Ze turned around and opened her arms out and began to chant, she levitated in to the air and crossed her legs, I kinda had to smile, she looked like a Buddha.

But something caught my attention, "Oh god," I breathed. Green Beetle came out of nowhere, but the Supercycle took him out and he skidded to the ground landing with a thud.

"Guys, this is all on you! I've got my own Beetle to hold!" Rocket shouted, "And Ze is smack in the middle of her mystic trace."

"Oh great! Not like our tushes haven't been kicked by one Beetle already!" Impulse turned to face Green.

But I had a trick up my sleeve, "This Beetle comes with his own personal kryptonite," I ran up beside Impulse and threw a flare, "Go!" The flare ignited and Impulse ran towards it running in a circle spreading the fire. Green Beetle recoiled and sunk to the ground.

"Ha! Crash!" Impulse laughed, "Those Martians really can't take the heat."

"No they can't but stay alert," I warned him, "He has other skills to compensate." And sure enough, I looked into in the ring of fire and Green was nowhere to be seen. "Damn," I swore. Suddenly I was sailing through the air and landed heavily on the ground beside Impulse. But I looked at my computer and smiled, time for team two. I heard a loud crash and looked up, there was an elephant in the room, literally, BB had made his move and landed on Green Beetle then turned into an elephant. Gotta give the kid points for creativity, I smiled to myself. I staggered on to my feet just as Bumble Bee stung Green in the eyes. I almost punched the air as Cassie lassoed him and Tim swung down from the rafters kicking him to the ground.

A voice came out from Ze, it wasn't hers. Her eyes were glowing and from the centre column a beetle came down and rested on her forehead. Light burst from her and spiralled upwards, twisting and warping into the shape of what I could only describe as an ancient goddess. Ze and the goddess raised their arms and rocks floated off the ground upwards towards the centre column, rebuilding it. But from behind Ze the beetle on the wall that I had seen the last time I was here lit up like a lighthouse, I had to shield my eyes as a blinding blue light flooded the chamber. The shield dropped off Blue and he stood.

"Fools," He shouted.

"You will all die!" Green finished. As Green shot his sonic, Impulse ran and grabbed Cassie's rope that was still around him and towed him over to the platform dumping him beside Blue. I pulled Tim, Cassie and Gar behind a column as a spire of light came up from the centre of the platform, it was like looking at the sun, sparks flew off the sides and all went white.

The light faded and all was back to normal, well I hoped it was. I peered out from behind the column and saw Blue and Green on the floor and Ze coming back to Earth in more ways than one. Impulse ran and caught her before she hit the ground.

"Did it work?" Bart asked, "Or are we back to square one? Who controls the Beetles?"

"Lets find out," Ze said and held out her hand and saying a spell. The armour on both Beetles founded back to reveal Jaime and the Martian. "It worked," She sighed. "Jaime and B'arzz are back in control."

"It's true," Jaime smiled, "I can feel it, I'm free of The Reach, for real this time!"

Rocket crossed her arms, "You're 100% sure, we've been through this before."

"I'm certain of it," Ze said.

I pulled up my computer and scanned over them, and nodded, "Reading no external signals since Ze worked her magic. Neither Beetle is in contact with The Reach."

"Hey hey hey! Hermano!" Impulse walked over to his friend, "Congrats!"

"Thank you," Jaime said, his voice filled with emotion, he hugged Zatana tightly, then high fived Bart.

"It had been so long," B'arzz said, "I had all but forgotten the sensation of controlling my own body. My thanks knows no end."

"That's great," Bumble Bee piped up, "But Queen Bee's goons are waking up!"

"Ok, lets get out of here." I motioned to them, "Before we have another fight on our hands."

* * *

We flew through the sky back towards home, Tim, Zatana, myself and Impulse rode in the SuperCycle, while we were flanked in the air by Blue, Green, Rocket, BB and Bumble Bee.

"So spill," Blue said, "How did you know how to free us?"

I turned to him, "Bumble Bee and I came across that cave a few months back on another mission. I couldn't help but notice the inscriptions on the wall and the Blue scarab imagery. I recorded a holographic file of the symbols and hieroglyphics, Doctor Fate was able to translate them which revealed that there was a mystic ceremony that the ancients had used to cleanse the scarab of Reach control."

"That's why my scarab was off mode when I found it," Jaime nodded.

Zatana continued, "Because the ritual used magic of human origin, Fate, a lord of order couldn't preform it, so he prepped me inside."

"Meanwhile," Tim cut in, "Blade and I got with the hacking. Starting with the computer files of the previous Blue Beetle, the late Ted Cord. Ted's files revealed that an archaeologist named Dan Garret first discovered both the Temple and the scarab in 1939, it fused with him the way it fused with you. Dan assumed it was some kind of mystic artefact, and he used it to become the first Blue Beetle of modern times. When Dan past away he left the scarab to his protege, Ted Cord."

"But Cord quickly realised the scarab was alien tech, since he wasn't about to let an alien device fuse to his spine he locked the scarab away," I finished.

"But Garret still inspired Ted to become the second Blue Beetle even with no superpowers," Jaime said.

I shrugged, "I hear those are optional. Anyway Ted suspected The Light wanted the scarab back in play and he tried to stop them from stealing it and paid the ultimate price. And that's where you came in Jaime," I gave him a sympathetic look.

"I don't think I was exactly what The Reach or The Light had in mind. But why keep all this from me?" He questioned.

"Because I took months for me to learn the ritual, not to mention configuring the ancient Bialyian incantations to work in concert with my magic." Zatana told him.

"And you couldn't risk letting The Reach know the Temple existed until you were ready," Jaime realised, then flew over my head to Impulse, "And you managed to keep your mouth shut, you!"

"Hey, making sure you stayed a hero was the main reason I came back to the past, so I was motivated to take my mouth off mode," Impulse shrugged, "But don't you get used to it now!"

We landed back in Bludhaven, Dick was waiting for us, I walked over and gave him a hug as the rest of the team was getting out of the SuperCycle, "Good job," He smiled down at me.

"What happened?" M'gann and La'gann appeared from the BioShip hold below.

"We managed to rescue Green and Blue Beetle from Reach control," I told her.

"Terrific," La'gann said, but he sounded less than impressed, "If you need me I'm watching TV."

M'gann walked over to us, "Em, have you seen Conor?" I shook my head, I was just in the door.

"He said something about going out with Wendy Harris," Dick told her.

"Oh right," M'gann sounded deflated and walked over to the team.

I elbowed Dick in the ribs, "Well done!"

"Ow! What was that for?" He rubbed his side.

I rolled my eyes, "For someone that was trained by Batman, you can be really dense when it comes to body language. M'gann and La'gann just broke up, and she wants to see Conor."

"Well he is off with Wendy Harris," Dick defended himself.

"Yeah well you could have phrased it differently," I tutted.

Dick rolled his eyes, "Seeing as that mission was a success and you're all back early, how about we debrief the team and head home, I booked the Fox Gardens for dinner." He pulled me back into a hug.

I raised my eye brows, "How did you get a booking there? And why?"

"Oh when you name drop Alexandra Wayne it gets you places, and well Happy Anniversary babe," Dick grinned.

My jaw dropped, "Oh my god I totally forgot! I am the worst girlfriend ever!"

Dick laughed, "You you're not, come on lets get home."

* * *

I brushed through my hair making sure it was all straight, and I reached down and took off the dresser a beautiful necklace Dad had given me, it had been my Grandmother's. I looked in the mirror and smiled, it was rare that I got to dress up like this, I gazed at the person smiling back at me; long black hair, a diamond necklace draped around her neck, and a floor length strapless red dress, it hugged her body and then flowed to the floor. I was unrecognisable.

I walked down the stairs and I saw that Dick was waiting for me, he was talking to Alfred and Tim, they all stopped talking when they spotted me. Tim's jaw dropped slightly and Alfred's eyes went wide, but Dick just smiled. I grinned back down at him, he looked so handsome in a suit and tie. "Well," I spoke, "That was the reaction I was going for."

Dick took my hand and kissed me, "You look amazing."

"You don't look to bad yourself," I tapped his suit.

He took my arm, "Shall we?" I nodded and we walked towards the car, Alfred was going to drop us to the restaurant. As Alfred was getting into the car Dick stopped and leaned down and kissed me, then whispered in my ear, "Six years, heres to six more." I smiled and we walked down to the car, as we got in I thought, well if Impulse is anything to go by there'll be a lot more than six years.


	20. Chapter 20

**Author's Note: Thanks to all that have kept reading! I hope you enjoy this one! Only one more to go in the series, but don't fret I shall be carrying on! **

* * *

The file came up on the screen as soon as I typed in the name: Ra's al Ghul. I gulped, the man in the picture before me looked terrifying; large green eyes stared out, a moustache hung down from his upper lip in an oriental style, the sides of his hair were white while the rest was jet black. He was draped in robes of black and green and seemed to have an air terrible power. And he was my Grandfather. As I scanned down over the information, Dad had very little information on him, a picture of Talia flashed up as I went to the next page of the file, I jumped back slightly, it was unnerving to see your doppelgänger staring at you.

"You ok?" I nearly leapt ten feet in the air.

"Dick you scared the crap outta me!" I turned to look at him.

He held his hands up in defence, "Sorry, sorry. You ok though? If you want to sit this mission out I understand." He motioned to Ra's.

I shook my head, "No, I'm doing this, we are almost at the end if this mission goes well, and if we get a confession out of The Light and The Reach then Dad can walk free. I want my hand in this." My eyes drifted back up to the screen.

I felt Dick wrap his arms around me and his chin rested on my head. "You aren't her Alex."

"What are you talking about?" I pretended not to understand.

"Talia, your mother, you aren't her, so get it out of your head," He told me.

I tensed my jaw, "I'm trying, but it's like ever since I learned about her, I've been getting flash backs from when I was a kid." I paused for a second, "I remember when I was in Central City, I heard someone come in to the apartment. I was only five and I snuck out of bed and went down to see who was there. I saw a woman with black hair and black eyes, she was dressed in foreign clothes and had an accent, it was her Dick, it was Talia, I saw her, I heard her."

"What was she saying?" He asked quietly.

I shut my eyes trying to remember, "It was something about me, how I was, how I was growing and learning. Claire was answering as if she was talking about livestock, giving Talia heights and weights, school report cards, the facts. I didn't understand, but I do now."

Dick squeezed me close, "Don't dwell in the past babe. It'll eat you from the inside, like Bruce, you can see the pain in his eyes when he thinks you aren't looking. I don't want that for you."

I nodded, Dick was right, I had to be strong. This mission was paramount to everything we had been working towards I couldn't blow it, Dad was counting on us.

* * *

I shifted in my position, it was cramped and cold, but we needed to stay still. We had made our way into the cave at Saint Prisca, we had been here before years ago when our Team just started out. Suddenly lights flickered and the cave was lit up, light pooled its way around in to the dark corners, it gave the stalactites on the ceiling a toothy glow. Then out of the darkness walked Black Beetle, he scanned around the cave and then walked down towards the circle that was in the centre of the cavern. From the other side walked Deathstroke, both the muscle from The Light and The Reach were checking out the surroundings. They both nodded in consent and stood back. From behind Black Beetle walked The Reach's ambassador and a female that I didn't recognise, along with a squadron of guards. Deathsroke gave way to The Light, in walked Black Manta, Vandel Savage, Brain, Monsieur Mallah, Artemis, Kaldur and then him, Ra's al Ghul and his servant Obu. Dick place a hand on my back to steady me. I took a deep breath and tried to regulate my heart beat, I needed to be rational.

The Reach's ambassador and the female alien walked in to the centre of the circle, Vandel Savage, Manta and Ra's joined them.

"Ambassador," Vandel greeted him.

"Savage," The Ambassador inclined his head.

But Black Beatle cut in, "As head of security for The Reach I must insist no masks to be worn in this summit."

"Simply because you insist is no guarantee," Manta growled.

R'as turned to him and in a voice like silk said, "Manta of you wouldn't mind? After all we are all friends." Manta reluctantly took off his helmet. I looked over and saw that Artemis took hers off to. She still looked the exact same to me, but I knew that everyone around her saw her as Tigress. Deathstroke aka Slade Wilson also took off his, and to be honest it wasn't much of an improvement.

"Satisfied?" My grandfather asked. Black Beetle narrowed his eyes and walked back behind the ambassador.

"Excellent," The Ambassador smiled, "Then with these formalities out of the way, let us begin." He inclined his head again, I really just wanted to punch him, "And the rest of The Light won't they be joining us?"

"Our more public members are occupied, conducting damage control to mitigate your more recent defeats," Ra's said smoothly, but aiming a jab at the Ambassador all the same.

"And in any case," Savage continued in his gravelly voice, "We are sufficient."

"Fine," The Ambassador answered, like he had a choice, "I know you called this summit, but The Reach has come with grievances against The Light. Please explain how the young Earth champions were allowed access to the Bialyians scarab temple under your control?" I grinned, because we totally rock, I said to myself.

I watched as Kaldur stepped forward, "May I respond?"

"No you may not," Black Beetle cut across him, "Manta keep your whelp meat silent."

"Beetle you insolence grows progressively less charming," Manta narrowed his eyes.

Savage held up his hand, "My friends, I think we can all agree that in recent times no one has done more for our cause then Kaldur'ahm. That is why he was entrusted with security for this summit, and why he is entitled to a voice here."

"Of course," The Ambassador said, "He may speak," then held a hand to Beetle to stop him.

"Thank you Ambassador," Kaldur addressed him, "We hear your concerns over the actions of my former team, but you must see that The Light could not have known the significance of the temple, or that ancient Earth magic could over ride the scarab to free Blue and Green Beetles. If The Reach had been more forthcoming with this information then something could have been done." Good job Kaldur, I thought, start getting them fighting amongst each other, we need them on edge.

"The Light provided everything that you required," Manta took up the argument, "And you aliens have let it all go."

"I don't believe that this is a productive direction for our discussion," The Ambassador said politely, but I could see that he was itching to do something, or at least order Black Beetle to do something.

"No," my Grandfather said, "Your public approval ratings are at a record low as are sales of The Reach drink, which you had hoped would enslave the populous."

"You allowed the young heroes you kidnapped to be rescued by the very teenagers metta-genes you enhanced, after allowing their escape as well. Worst of all Blue and Green Beetle have slipped from your grasp and fallen in to the hands of the enemy, The Justice League," Savage growled at them.

"Rest assured," The Ambassador refuted, "Both Beetles will soon be back on Mode, in fact, Black Beetle is here instead of guarding the key chamber on the War World to kill Blue and Green, so that their scarabs maybe reset and installed on a new hosts that will forever serve The Reach. So do not question us on that score or any other." I stifled a laugh, the Ambassador was getting agitated now. "Remember the Earth is now the property of The Reach and per our agreement The Light is merely our favoured agents amongst the humans."

I could see that some of The Lights members were getting very annoyed, but they were silenced by a look from Savage.

"Shouldn't we be concerned that Superman, Batman, The Lanterns and the rest will soon return to Earth and once again sway public to their side?" Kaldur asked.

Savage gave a slight smile, "Superman and those accused with him will never leave Rimbor, the attack we forced them to make on that world, plus a few well placed bribes has guaranteed their convictions." Not when they hear this Savage, I grinned to myself.

"And the Green Lanterns are forbidden by Guardian Treaty from returning to Earth now that we've convinced the UN General Secretary to welcome us here," The Ambassador added. "As for public opinion I wouldn't be concerned thought the tide has turned to a certain degree it will be a simple matter to build on the foundation of half truths, we have already used this to discredit the League…."

As the Ambassador was talking I looked at Ra's, his gaze was not on the conversation and the people around him, he was looking behind him at Artemis. I saw him stare at her, his green eyes narrowed, "Nightwing, he knows," I hissed through the mind link. Dick followed my gaze and tensed beside me. Ra's stood in front of Artemis and reached out, he grabbed her necklace.

"Great One?" She asked innocently. But Ra's pulled the necklace clean off her neck, and she was there, as Artemis for all of them to see. Horror befell her face as she stared back at The Light and The Reach.

"No one move, Artemis has been brief about this. Artemis, Kaldur, plan B in effect," Dick commanded everyone over the mind link.

"Artemis," Savage growled.

"I don't undertand," The Ambassador said, "I thought Artemis was dead!"

"So did we all," Savage replied, "But it seems Tigress is Artemis."

My Grandfather held up the necklace looking at it, "This is a glamour charm, created I'd wager by Zatana or Doctor Fate to hid Artemis's true identity."

"But Kaldur'ahm killed Artemis. If she lives, and in disguise as his lieutenant, then that means…." The Ambassador said slowly.

"Thats means that Aqualad duped them all, including his own father," Black Beetle finished.

"Kill them both," The Ambassador commanded, but the shots were fired not by Black Beetle, but by Deathstroke, I smiled, the plan was working.

Both Kaldur and Artemis lay on the ground, their bodies looked lifeless. But Kaldur's hand extended out and something began to beep. A holographic image of Kaldur appeared amongst them.

"If you are watching this then your summit is truly over. The Light and The Reach deserve each other both sides played at being partners but The Reach believes The Light to be their naive tools of conquest when in fact The Light has manipulated The Reach from day one. It was The Light that brought Earth to The Reach's attention by sending the Justice League to Rimbor, The Light set their trap and The Reach snapped at the bait, fulfilling The Light's desire to put Earth in the Galactic spotlight, part of their perverse survival of the fittest scheme. Which they believe will transform the Earth and The Light in to the eventual ruler of The Milky Way, though The Light made a deal to help The Reach take over the planet they have also sabotaged The Reach's efforts; they kept the metta-gene teenagers out of The Reach's hands, they added a neutraliser to The Reach's soft drink so Earth's population is unchanged, they turned public opinion against The Reach and they allowed the Team access to the Temple to free Blue and Green Beetles. So you see, any agenda either side imagined they shared was a carefully crafted illusion. I trust I have shattered that illusion, as well as whatever remains of this sorry alliance. Good Night."

I looked around the cavern, there was silence for a few seconds, both sides could not believe what just happened. Their faces looked lost and angry, but Savage looked like he was fuming.

"He has in death done more to ruin my cause then anyone has wrought in 50,000 years. I'd be impressed if I was so…." Savage was cut off.

The Ambassador yelled, "You Earthlings are a plague, you dare sabotage us! Dare betray us! Have you forgotten who controls the War World? We will carve up this planet!"

"That would indeed impress as I have the War World's crystal key," Savage looked down at him with venom in his voice.

"That, was all I needed to know," Kaldur said and rose from the floor, I thought Manta would pass out for a second.

"If you would?" Artemis offered her hand to my Grandfather who spun around to look at her, "And always heard the Great One was such a gentleman," She pulled herself to her feet.

"Impossible! Deathstroke killed you both," Savage's eyes were wide in horror.

"Only for a minute, after all I wouldn't wanna do any permanent damage to," Deathstroke spoke, but then his voice changed, "To my best friends." M'gann transformed to her normal form. I could have almost punched the air, the plan was working! Dick nodded to me, it was my turn.

I leapt out from my hiding place, I flipped in the air and landed on my hunkers, then rose looking my Grandfather directly in the eye, "Oh nothing a little Hollywood special effects and misdirection won't solve."

"It's the Bat-brat!" Black Beetle hissed.

"Oh I'm much more than that. It's that right Grandfather?" I glared at him.

I could see that he was looking at me up and down, then it dawned on his face, "Alexandra, is that you?" He whispered quietly.

"Hi there, oh and word to Mother, you lost," I grinned. At my word from all corners of the cave the Team appeared. From behind The Reach came Conner, Bumble Bee and Guardian, then to my right appeared Batgirl, Nightwing and Kid Flash.

"Hey beautiful! Did you miss me?" He called out to Artemis.

"Well played," Savage growled, "Well planned, but The Light always has contingencies."

Brain suddenly let out a wave and the doors of the cavern shut behind everyone, and above us the ceiling peeled back to reveal the War World and the Moon. Something began to drop into the cave, they looked like bird swarming, but then it hit me, they weren't birds, they were members of the League of Assassins. The dropped to the ground, their katana swords in their hands, I drew mine ready. I saw my grandfather give me a slight smile, I ignored him, I wouldn't let him in my head.

"Kill them all, Superboy my present a problem, but we can deal with him after the other children are bleeding on the floor," Savage raised his hand.

"Still you call us children, no wonder we keep defeating you," I smiled re-gripping my swords.

A member of the Assassins took of his mask to reveal Blue, he launched up into the air and he shot sonic blasts in to the crowd. Two other Assassins unmasked themselves, it was La'gaan and Beast Boy, and they launched in to attack immediately.

I wheeled my katanas and turned to the assassins, "Come and get me boys," I gestured with my finger. The ran swords raised, total mistake. I ducked and went low, smashing some knee caps and winding another. I flowered my swords and locked the pommels together as an other group came to get their ass handed to them. I blocked the strike from the first and used his momentum against him so he knocked out his companion beside him, they hit the floor hard and stayed there. I looked over and I saw that Dick was having a few issues, I ran over and leapt against the wall using it to gather speed, I flipped and landed on the shoulders of one assassin and kicked another in the hip.

"Wow, nice work," Dick smiled.

I grinned up at him, "No time for talking, keep fighting." Around us battles blazed between the opposing sides, birdarangs flew in the air, sonics blasted rocks in half and arrows flew in every direction. But something caught my eye, Black Beetle walked towards my grandfather, he hurled Conner out of the way as he tried to block him. He transform his arm into the scythe like blade, and before I could do anything he stuck it straight in Ra's's heart. I gasped in horror, but then I felt disgusted at myself, what did I owe this man, a man that tried to have me turned into a raging weapon to be used against my Father.

"Master!" Obu shouted and ran over to catch Ra's. I ran and stood near Artemis who saw the whole thing up close and personal.

"Wait," Ra's hissed, "Alexandra, come closer." I looked warily at him but took a few steps, Obu gave me a protective look like a mother watching over a child, "You… you aren't alone… there… ugh…. there is another." He gurgled on blood in his throat.

I opened my mouth to asked what he was talking about, but Obu shot a line to the top of the cave and was gone from sight. I saw Black Beetle fleeing also with the female Reach member, but he left the Ambassador. I felt a hand on my shoulder, Dick grinned down at me, "It's over."

I gazed around the cave, everyone was dusting themselves off and getting to their feet. I did a head count, we were all here, we were all safe. But I spotted Kaldur over by the small pool that was in the cave, I pulled Dick's arm and walked over to find him. He was just standing there looking over Manta's unconscious body. I stepped in to the water and put my hand on his shoulder, Dick followed behind me.

"Kaldur, are you ok?" I asked gently.

"I had hoped to end this tonight, but Savage escaped along with Clarion, as did Black Beetle and The Reach's head scientist. Luthor and Queen Bee never showed, and even Ra's al Ghul will no doubt…."

"Are you kidding me?" Dick cut in, "Kaldur you won!"

"Won? Won? Dude you triumphed!" Wally and Artemis walked over hand in hand.

"You've crippled The Reach and literally broken The Light in half!" I added.

"Even took down Deathstroke before the summit," Artemis finished for me.

"And since we holographically filmed it all, it'll be enough to free all those on Rimbor," Dick gave me a look.

"Oh!" Artemis gasped, I had to hold out my hands to stop her from falling as Beast Boy nearly knocked her over in a hug. "What was that?" She asked him.

Garfield beamed up at them, "I'm still just so glad you're not dead, and that Aqualad isn't a traitor," Then he looked at Dick sternly and pointed at him, "No more faking anyones deaths for at least a year, ok?!"

I laughed at Dick's face, he looked shocked, "Seconded," I smiled and took his hand.

Kaldur sighed, he sounded so defeated. Dick put his hand on his shoulder, "Kaldur, this has been a good night, probably the best night that we've had since the four of us set off for Cadmus over 6 years ago, enjoy the moment, you've earned it."

* * *

Once the Team was debriefed, Dick, Kaldur and I headed up to the Watch Tower where Aquaman and Red Tornado were waiting for us. I yawned as we walked down to the main chamber, Dick took my hand and squeeze it them pulled me to him and kissed my head, he was delighted for more then one reason.

We stood around and Dick extended his hand to Kaldur, "I now officially return the command of the Team back to you."

"Congratulations Kaldur'ahm," Aquaman patted him on the back.

"This is unnecessary," Kaldur shook his head, "You have done brilliant work leading the Team in the most trying of times."

Dick grinned, "Which is why I am thrilled to have this particular monkey off my back. Jobs all yours pal!"

A light caught my eye and I turned to see a boom tube appear out of no where and Captian Marvel, Black Canary and Green Arrow came flying out of the tube and hit the floor, all of them were out cold. I ran over and checked their pulses, they were all normal thankfully. Then a thunderous noise echoed around the cave and the walls vibrated, I gawked out as the War World was kicked into life and began to fly away from Earth's orbit.

"The War World! Its leaving!" Dick exclaimed, "Wait, is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

Once the others had come to we found out that Savage had made off in the War World and god knows where he was going with it. But we did get some good news, the UN retracted their invitation to The Reach and demanded that they leave immediately. I could have cheered, it meant that the Green Lanterns could return to Earth, and while they weren't my favourite people in the world, they were such a stickler for the rules, they did have the power to kick The Reach out of Earth.

"Go home everyone, you need rest, we begin tomorrow for the final dealing with The Reach," Captain Atom called in via video link.

I said good bye to Olly and Dinah and ran over to Dick who was waiting at the Zeta Tube.

"So back to the Manor?" He asked.

I shook my head, "Nope, I was thinking we make use of the loft you have in Bludhaven?" I leaned up and kissed him, he grinned.

"Sounds like a plan to me," He turned and walked through the Zeta Tube. I began to walk after him but a voice echoed in my head, it was Ra's voice, 'You aren't alone, there is another,' I shuddered, what did he mean? I dreaded to think what that evil man had done, but I shook my head banishing any further thoughts, tonight was about celebrating, and god knows we needed something to celebrate about.


	21. Chapter 21

**Author's Note: Ok guys! Last episode done here, but I will be continuing on as you will see from the end! Enjoy and review! **

* * *

I woke to something clattering in the kitchen, I almost jumped out of bed at the sound and reached over to wake up Dick but he was missing, he must be the one making all the noise. I relaxed and looked around remembering where I was, I was in the loft in Bludhaven. I reached over and took my cell phone off the bed stand and saw that I had three text messages from Tim:

"Where are you?"

"Is Dick with you?"

"Oh right, yeah….. see you tomorrow."

I snorted with laughter and replied that we would see him later at home. I looked up to more clanging coming from around the corner, "Are you ok in there?"

But in answer to my question Dick appeared carrying a box and two coffees, "Sorry, there was no food here so I ran to the store and got something." He placed the box on the bed and I sat up, my eyes grew wide and my stomach growled, Dunkin' Donuts.

"You know me too well," I said and reached to take one out, biting down on the sugary frosting.

Dick took a slurp of his coffee and grabbed a donut too, "I don't think I have felt this stress free in a long time," He sigh happily.

I looked over at him and grinned, "Yeah you look pretty relaxed," I reached over and wiped some frosting off his chin with my thumb.

He gave me a cheeky smile and took a large bite out of the donut, I rolled my eyes at him, then he looked at me, I know that look, I thought. "Dick no, not happening, no" I put my hand out, like that wasn't going to stop him. He came at me his face covered in frosting and kissed me straight on the mouth. I eventually managed to push him off and wiped my face with my sleeve. "Seriously?" I glared at him, but he just shrugged and took a sip of his coffee.

After I showered and got back into my uniform, I looked for my swords, "Here," Dick handed them to me as he buckled his escrima sticks to his belt.

I took them and strapped them on to my back settling into my armour, "So ready for this?"

He looked out the window for a second, "Completely. Once this is over then we can let the team know our decision,." He pulled me into his body and wrapped his hands around my waist.

I nodded then leaned up and kissed him, "Yup," Then I looked away, remembering what Ra's had said last night.

"Eh? Wanna come back to Earth there?" Dick looked down at me.

"Sorry, just thinking," I sighed.

He raised his eye brows, "What's new there? Come on what's the problem?"

"Just something that my Grandfather said last night in the cavern," I remembered back to Ra's hiss, "He told me that I wasn't alone, that there was another."

"Well you have me, Tim, Bruce?" Dick said as if it was obvious.

"I don't think it's that simple," I bit the inside of my cheek. But before we could talk any further Dick's radio buzzed.

"Hi, yeah Cap we're on our way," He said, then nodded at me, "Let's go kick some Alien butt."

* * *

Once we arrived at the Watch Tower we were briefed about the goings on. M'gann and Conner had gone to Rimbor with the evidence to free the Justice League, I was so excited, Dad was going to be coming home. Kaldur had taken a squad to take out The Reach on their ship by the UN, and so far it was successful. I watched the progress of the Team on the screens, Kaldur, Blue Beetle and Green Beetle had made it into the main flight deck of The Reach's ship. Out of nowhere the scanners and computers went insane, they blasted sound and the screens went blank.

"Eh….What was that?" I looked slowly over at Dick and Captain Atom.

"Alpha squad, do you copy?" Cap asked into the radio.

There was no response for a moment then Kaldur answered, "Yes, we copy, Green Beetle is down, his scarab was destroyed but he will recover. But Blue won the day, its over." I could have flipped on the spot, we had done it.

"No hermano," Blue's voice cut in, "What have we done?"

"Blue, are you ok?" I asked slowly.

"Black Beetle, he's down but when I took him down I found out his plan," Blue said, he sounded shaken, "He has set a plan to erase all evidence of The Reach's plan to conquer us, by destroying the Earth."

Cap took action, "How is he doing this? And where from?"

I peered at the scanners in front of me and I saw red dots appearing all over the Earth's surface, they were giving out high energy readings, "Eh Cap….? I think this might be a hint." I pointed to the screens, "There are ten already and the numbers are growing." They were appearing over Paris, London, Moscow, Washington DC, LA, Chicago, Sydney, Cape Town, Taipei, Dublin, the list kept growing. I gulped, this wasn't good.

Blue and Kaldur came up to the Watch Tower to give us a full report. I saw Dick look over the computer screens, he looked worried, his eye brows were knitted together and he rubbed his chin, I touched his lower back in reassurance, but I was equally nervous. The computers showed Doctor Fate was protecting a city from a huge tidal wave while Green Arrow was helping children out of a wrecked school bus.

'Natural disasters have escalated, the rest of the League is spread thin saving lives across the globe," Cap pointed at the screens.

Blue walked forward, "They are The Reach's MFD's, Magnetic Field Disruptors, The Reach seeded in multiple locations across the Earth. They're causing a deterioration of the planet's magnetic field, which in turn is causing these not so natural disasters. I can locate all of the MFD's, but each is defended by Beetle tech drones, programmed to run interference until the MFD can build up enough steam to go chrysalis and end the world."

My mind raced, The Reach were evil, pure evil. They were going to kill billions of people, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, everyone, all gone, and they were going to just fly away and move on to a different planet and enslave the population, it made me sick, and they were going to pay. I made a fist and tensed it my blood started to boil.

"So how do we shut them down?" Cap asked Blue.

Blue shook his head, "I have no idea, because Black Beetle had no idea. There's no fail safe."

I sighed, "This was their end game."

"Incoming transmission from United Nations: General Secretary Tsang." The computer read out. We all turned to see the Secretary appear on the computer, I tensed my jaw, he was another person that I wanted to punch, this would never have happened if he didn't invite The Reach to stay here.

"Luthor!" Cap exclaimed. I whipped around to see another person that needed a fist in their face.

"Secretary Tsang was kind enough to let me use his frequency, as I have a possible solution to our mutual problem." Luthor purred.

"A problem created by you and The Light!" I jabbed my finger at Luthor, Dick placed his hand on my arm attempting to calm me down, "You collaborated to bring The Reach to Earth."

"Easy Blade, I see you haven't got your father's cool demeanour, more like your mother then yes? Nightwing, do try and rein her in," Luthor said in his velvety voice. I was practically vibrating with anger, how dare he bring up my parents, what were they to him and how did he know!? "Anyway," Luthor continued, "As I believe you know The Light betrayed The Reach. Lex-Corp has developed anti-Reach software, a virus that should disable the Magnetic Field Disruptors. Now I believe time is of the essence." He hung up and was gone.

Cap immediately took charge and sent out a signal, "Calling all Justice Leaguers, rendezvous outside Lex-Corp in Metropolis asap." Then he turned to us, "Let's get down there." He and the rest headed to the Zeta Tube.

I went to go but Dick caught my arm. "Don't listen to Luthor, he is just trying to get in your head," He said to me.

"I know, but I really want to punch him," I jutted out my jaw.

Dick laughed, "I think you'd have to join a line." He leaned down a kissed me, "For luck," He smiled. Then headed to the Zeta Tube.

"Hey!" I called after him stamping my foot on the ground and throwing my arms out, "What do I looked like a bloody leprechaun?"

* * *

All of the Justice League was gathered outside Lex-Corp, I glanced around, there must be over forty of us here. I spotted Oliver and Dinah, they smiled at me as I walked past to stand by our Bat-Family. Cassie was standing by Tim, she looked pretty worried.

I leaned over to her, "Hey Wondergirl. Stay whelmed." Dick grinned down at me and took my hand and squeezed it.

"Every single Magnetic Field Disruptor must be disabled before they go chrysalis to guarantee Earth's safety. Each MFD is guarded by multiple Beetle Tech drones and each drone is the equivalent of a Beetle warrior. Blue Beetle has located twenty MFD's around the world, there is forty of us here, so you will be in squads of two." Cap addressed us all.

Luthor continued, "You will all be issued multiple Reach tech eggs containing my anti-Reach software. While one hero runs interference with the drones, the other has to physically touch his or her egg against an MFD to disable it."

Cassie spoke next to me, "You really think that we can trust Luthor?"

"It's his world too, pretty sure he doesn't want it reduced to space dust. Besides we don't have much choice," Tim answered quietly.

"Alright I have your assignments," Cap called out, "Lets distribute these eggs and go." He began calling out names, "Superboy and Miss Martian. Robin and Wondergirl. Lagoon Boy and AquaLad. Kid Flash and Artemis. Nightwing and Blade." Dick and I walked up after Wally and Artemis, "Ok KF and Artemis, you're going to Paris, France. Nightwing and Blade you're both going to Dublin, Ireland." I took the eggs and walked over to the Zeta Tube.

"They're so lucky going to Paris," I mumbled.

"What was that?" Dick asked.

"Nothing," I looked up at him, "Let's go."

* * *

The cold hit me first, my breath came out like a swirl of mist. I looked around, this was Dublin. It was a low city, the buildings were no more than twenty stories high, if that. A river ran through the centre, meandering downwards into the sea, separating the city north and south. The port looked like a busy one, ferries and pleasure boats were tied up and docked. But the city was empty, cars left abandoned on the streets, a bus was even over turned. Dick and I ran up the river heading in to the centre of the city. We skidded to a halt at a square bridge over the river.

"There," I pointed. The street was wide, Dublin was an old city and from my readings founded by the vikings when they invaded and there must have been something there before. So the streets were wide to allow carts and carriages pulled by horses to turn. Down this street, O'Connell Street, there was a large metal spike, The Spire, it was a new addition, built for the millennium. But at the base of it was the MFD and The Reach drones.

"How are we going to do this?" Dick asked.

I thought for a second, battle plans were always my favourite thing, then I had it, "You take the egg and go high, I'm going to run down the main street and distract them."

"What? No!" He protested.

"Don't argue! Get moving!" I pointed to the top of the building, "And watch out, the infrastructure isn't that tall." He rolled his eyes and shot a line up and soared into the air.

I took a breath, this street did have cover but I needed to be clever. I shot a flare into the sky, the drones saw it straight away. It was on. I ran towards them, they shot bullets, but before they could hit I drew my swords and spun them blocking the shots, one rebounded and hit a drone, good it was weakened. I sprinted down further dodging around cars and buses. Then I had an idea, it was reckless, but it might work. I shot a line up to the top of the Spire, I retracted the line and soared into the sky, the MFD's followed. I turned and shot a small explosive at one of them, and just as I thought the other went directly underneath me. I cut the cord and dropped on it his head, the other rushed to his friends rescue but I was ready, I held out my katana and as the MFD powered towards me I struck it like pro baseballer, it flew down and lodged on top of The Spire. One down, one to go. I stuck the point of my sword down into the head of the MFD, it flew towards the ground, I needed to move, I shot a cable at a grand looking building with Roman type columns and facade and swung off the drone. The drone flew full force into a shop front destroying it. I landed and looked up, the building read 'Pennys', well it used to read Pennys, now with a Reach drone in it it read 'nnys". Dick flew down from the Roman looking building and hit the MFD with the egg, it powered down and hit the floor.

I stopped stunned, we had done it.

'Report please Sigma," Adam Strange called through the radio from the Watch Tower.

"Sigma… oh" I was cut off by Dick kissing me full on the mouth.

"Eh Sigma…. Sigma?" Adam asked gingerly, but he wasn't getting an answer just yet.

* * *

We returned to the Watch Tower and as we walked through the Zeta Tube we heard, "Good work! All twenty MFD's have been neutralised. Mission was a success we have done it!"

I grinned and we walked down to join the group, Captain Marvel, Captain Atom, Green Arrow, Atom, Wally and Artemis were already there.

"No we didn't," Atom said, throwing up a screen to show everyone, "There is one more, one we didn't see."

"Blue Beetle to Watch Tower," Jaime called in, "I'm getting readings of a 21st MFD in the Arctic, hidden from my previous scans by Earth's own magnetic field. Sending co-ordinates."

"But there are no Zeta Tubes in the Arctic," I said, panic beginning to rise in my throat.

'Don't worry gang. I've got this," The Flash called in. I ran over to a computer and punched in the co-ordinates, the image came up and a live satellite

Seconds later Flash came over the radio again, "Flash to Watch Tower, we're too late, its gone chrysalis. I'm not sure if the egg…."

"The egg is useless now, you are too late," Lex Luthor answered, I hung my head, it was over. Below us the Earth began to twist and churn, the clouds morphed over the surface and lights shot up like the Aurora Lights.

"What now?" Flash asked.

"Now you run," Lex answered.

"Hey, I'm not quitter, there's gotta be….," Flash retorted.

"I didn't say run away, I said run," Lex said smoothly, "Together, you and Impulse should be able to negate the chrysalis by running against it."

"Is it actually that simple?" Flash asked.

"I wouldn't call it simple, you'll be attempting to syphon its power with your own speed trails it'll take a massive amount of kinetic energy," Atom told them.

I leaned into Dick and put my hand on his stomach, "Do you think it'll be enough?"

"Recognised: Kid Flash, B03" The computers mechanic voice called out. I turned to looked at Artemis, she was in shock.

"And no matter what, don't slow down until the chrysalis is completely neutralised," Atom finished. Now it was a waiting game.

Five minutes past and I couldn't take it anymore, I reached out with my mind and called, "M'gann, I'll meet you at the Zeta Tube in Quebec." I turned to leave for the Tubes.

"Where are you going?" Dick called after me.

"I have to see if I can do something," I said.

"We're coming too," Dick told me and Artemis nodded.

We met up with M'gann, Conner, La'gaan, Kaldur and Blue in Quebec and boarded the BioShip. Not a word was past between us all, we were just too worried, especially Artemis.

M'gann landed the Bioship and we all ran out. It was ice cold and a beam of chrysalis energy was pulsing into the sky, but at the base you could see red blurs, the speedsters.

"Look," Dick pointed into the sky, "It's working!" And sure enough he was right, the kinetic energy the speedsters were creating was slowly over taking the chrysalis energy. I smiled, they were going to do it. The beam retracted back into the Earth like a worm and disappeared.

"They did it!" M'gann laughed with joy.

We ran towards the cloud of snow, waiting for it to clear. As it settled my eyes fell on Impulse, he was tired and bent over, his hands resting on his thighs then he dropped to his knees. Then I spotted Flash, he looked equally tired and fell to one knee. But where was Wally? I searched for the red and yellow costume, but I couldn't see it.

"It's over!" M'gann took Bart's shoulder and helped him up.

"Congratulations," Kaldur pulled Barry to his feet.

"Wait!" Artemis called out, "Where's Wally?" My heart plummeted, no, he couldn't be.

"Artemis," Flash said gently and walked over putting his hand on her shoulder, "He wanted me to tell you."

"No," She breathed, her eyes glistened and I saw her knees shake.

"He loved you," Barry finished.

Streams of tears flowed down Artemis's face, she collapsed on the ground and held her head in her hands. I rushed over with M'gann and we both cradled her. I fought back the tears and the lump in my throat got bigger, but I needed to stay strong for Artemis.

* * *

We regrouped our Team, Dick and Kaldur broke the news. Garfield looked at me, I nodded, this was no lie. He ran over and hugged me, I hugged him tightly and finally let the tears flow. They fell down my mask and to my chin then dripped on to my suit. But we hadn't long to grieve, word came through that the members of the Justice League that had been on Rimbor were arriving at Mount Justice, well what was left of it. We had to go and retrieve them.

* * *

As we flew through the sky Dick took my hand, I couldn't speak yet, all the happiness and joy that we should have been feeling was gone, I felt nothing. The wind whipped through my hair as the SuperCycle flew towards Mount Justice. I looked down and saw them, The Justice League, they were standing, staring in a group, god knows what was going through their heads. But I they saw us all land on around them, M'gann, Cassie, Blue, Bumble Bee, BB all landed before us in the SuperCycle.

I spotted Dad, my heart flipped, but I froze where I was, I didn't know what to do or say.

"AquaLad, what happened here?" Dad asked.

"Fear not," He said, "The crisis has past, but at a terrible cost." He told them of Artemis and Wally, the MFD's and The Reach.

After all the protocols were out of the way, I finally found my feet and got out of the SupreCycle with everyone else. M'gann ran and hugged J'onn. I totally forgot myself and ran toward Dad, he looked and me and I wrapped my arms around his waist, my head resting on his chest, dwarfed by his size.

"I missed you so much," I choked back the tears. "I thought you were gone."

He held me tightly, "I missed you to, but you know it takes more than an Inter-Galactic incident to take out Batman." I managed a small smile and wiped the tears from my eyes.

* * *

The Justice League escorted The Reach and all their ships off Earth, the Green Lanterns were going to take them to be heard and sentenced by the Guardians of the Universe. I watched from the Watch Tower and smiled, "Want company?" Dick asked, I nodded, he wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his chin on my head and looked out the window. "Glad to see them go?" He asked.

"I hope they rot in an inter-galactic prison," I narrowed my eyes.

Dick kissed my neck, "I'm going to talk to Kaldur, you wanna come?"

I nodded, "We have to tell him."

We found Kaldur on the stairs up to the control deck, "Ah there you two are," He smiled. We took the lift up and walked out, Canary and Cap were talking.

"Kaldur, Alex and I, well we are going to take a break from the Team," Dick just came out with it.

Kaldur looked shocked, "This is no time for you both to resign."

"We're not resigning, just taking a leave of absence," I reassured him, "Besides, if you need help Barbara is more than capable of stepping up."

"Agreed," Kaldur nodded, "But Dick, Alex…."

"We need a break Kaldur," Dick said, "You, me, Alex, Wally, we started this team, without him…."

Kaldur sighed, "I understand." He patted Dick on the shoulder and embraced me tightly then walked over to Barbara to tell her the news.

Dick and I headed over to the Zeta Tubes, but Kaldur called out, "Team, report to the mission room." I looked at Dick, he nodded, lets just stay for a few more minutes. We leaned against the wall and looked over. Dad and the Justice League stood in front of the Team.

"Having stopped The Reach invasion and breaking The Light in half, the Team will now operate out of the Watch Tower, side by side with the League. Not because Mount Justice or The Hall was destroyed, but because you earned it." Dad said to them, almost giving them a smile.

"And so, we'll leave you to it," Canary did smile and turned to the Zeta Tubes, the League following.

Kaldur and Babs stepped out in front of the Team, "This Team has had successes but much remains to be done. Superboy, Miss Martian, Beast Boy, you're Alpha. B'arzz called from Mars he needs help. Tigress, Kid Flash, Bumble Bee and Guardian, you're Beta. Lex-Corp is bring out The Reach drink under a new name, we need proof." I smiled, Impulse had taken up the mantle of KF, I was proud of him, and Artemis had decided to become Tigress, I think it was just easier for her after Wally. "The rest of you are Gamma, and will investigate Batgirl's lead on Vandel Savage's next move."

Dick nudged me to go, I nodded and smiled, "Business as usual." Then turned and followed Dick to the Zeta Tubes. My radio suddenly buzzed, it was Alfred.

"So sorry to bother you miss, but there seems to be a little problem in Gotham," He said.

"What's new there Alfred?" I sighed.

'Well there is this character that is going around and murdering all of the city's mob bosses," Alfred put an image up on my computer, "He is calling himself the Red Hood."


	22. Chapter 22

**Author's Note: Hi everyone! So Alex's adventures continue! Enjoy this one! And thanks again so much for all your support and reviews, it means a lot! This is a little different take at Under The Red Hood, but enjoy none the less! **

* * *

"Arrh!" I yelled throwing a batarang across the cave, it soared threw the air and then came back like a boomerang, I caught it and flung it again. But this time it didn't return.

"Temper, temper," Dad's voice echoed from the shadows.

He threw the batarang at me and I caught it then placed it on the table, "Sorry, but I'm just so frustrated. No matter what lead I follow I can't pin this guy down, he's like water."

"The Hood?" Dad asked, looking up at my information on the screen.

I nodded, "Yes, I went up against him the other night, he was good, very good, he's been trained and trained by the best."

"And so are you," Dad put his hand on my shoulder, "We'll get this guy, don't worry. Where's Dick?"

I looked at my watch, "He's catching up with Kaldur, they haven't really spoken since we left the Team six months ago… wow, six months." I sighed, it sounded like such a long time ago, and yet it felt like yesterday. "I'm meeting him on the roof of The International Building after sundown."

Dad nodded, "Ok, well I have a meeting, I need to get changed, bring Tim if you need him, but he has to study for his SATs."

I laughed, "Good luck with that Dad, there is no way that Tim is going to stay away from patrol nights. Oh and if you need me in the office at all let me know, I'm happy to come in." Over the last few months I decided that it was time to learn the other family business, Wayne Industries. So I had been attending meetings and learning the ropes, I was Lucius Fox's shadow and to be honest, I was really enjoying it.

"Of course, good night Alex, and happy hunting," Dad smiled and walked back up to the house. I was alone in the cave again. I plonked myself back down into the chair in front of the computer.

"Computer, bring up recording of the Red Hood last night," I commanded. The file came up and I pressed play. The video had been recorded from my mask-cam. Dick and I had been running after the Hood, he matched us both move for move. But there was a moment I was looking for, it was when the Hood was jumping down off a building and I shot a cord at his leg, but before the line went taut he had turned and cut it with a knife, freeing himself. A trigger went off in my mind, I had seen that move before. My radio buzzed making me jump.

"Eh, are you coming out tonight or are you just going to stay in the cave?" Dick's voice questioned.

"Sorry babe, yeah I'm on my way," I said, then went to the computer, "Save at pause." I grabbed my swords and strapped them to my back then swung my leg over my bike and kicked it into life. As I drove I thought, where had I see that move before?

"Well good of you to join me," Dick stood leaning against a wall, his arms crossed.

I rolled my eyes, "Sorry, sorry, I'm here now aren't I?"

"That you are," He grinned and pulled me over to him, kissing me slowly.

I grinned into his kiss, then pushed him off, "Come on patrol time." I went to shoot a cable to the next building but I felt my belt and it wasn't there, damn it!

"Looking for this?" Dick waved my gun in the air.

I whipped around, "Hey! Give that back!"

He shook his head and squinted slightly, "Don't really feel like it. But I could, on one condition."

I crossed my arms and glared at him, "What do you want?"

"Well," He said walking over to me, "It would be nice to actually have a girlfriend for a change, so if you promise to come over to the loft after patrol then you have a deal."

I smiled slightly, poor Dick. I had been so busy with Wayne Industries and finding the Red Hood he had sorta taken a back seat. Recently he had moved in to a studio apartment in Gotham, Bludhaven was getting a little crowded, or so he said. "Fine, you have a deal. Now give me my cable gun back," I held out my hand.

He gave me a wolfish grin and handed it over, but before I could react he shot a line to the next building and flew off into the air, "Keep up Blade!" He shouted back.

"Such a child," I shook my head and followed him.

* * *

At about 2am we sat on the edge of Finnigan's Bar looking down at the off duty cops staggering out, well most were off duty, this was Gotham after all. I kicked my legs and ate some fries out of the bag that Dick had, "Get your own," He swiped my hand away, I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Well isn't this sweet? The little gang back together," A voice said from behind us.

I was standing in seconds, it was him, The Red Hood. He was tall, almost the same height as Dick, the Red mask covered his entire head and he was dressed in biker gear. I drew my swords instantly, and I heard Dick take out his escrima sticks.

"What's all this about? Come on now, relax," He smiled fingering a gun in a holster on his hip.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"You really don't recognise me?" He sounded surprised.

"Well you do have a helmet on your head genius, your mother wouldn't recognise you like that," Dick answered.

The Hood walked towards us, "Very funny, but you were always like that weren't you Grayson?"

My heart almost stopped, he knew Dick, he knew his name, "How did you…."

"Know who you are? I thought the daughter of the world's Greatest Detective would have gotten this sooner?" He taunted. He knew us both, I remained silent, I didn't want to let my hot head rule this one. "You know what? I've had enough of this." As quick as a flash he pulled out the hand guns out of the holster on his hip, and fired rapidly.

I blocked the shots with my katanas and Dick leapt into the air and launched an attack. He pulled his escrima sticks from his belt and hit the Hood twice on the leg then once on his shoulder. I spun my swords and went for my shot, I went high, but he was ready for me, he knew how I moved and blocked my attack. He grabbed my arms and hurled me against the opposite wall. I heard Dick shout in anger, I looked up and saw him run at the Red Hood, but the Hood moved quicker and kicked out, straight into Dick's knee.

Dick let out a scream of pain and collapsed on the ground. I staggered to my feet and threw a gas bomb at the Hood, "You're dead for doing that!" I shouted.

He laughed, "Never take life seriously. No one gets out alive." And he disappeared.

I scrambled over to Dick, he was clutching his knee and he had gone white with the pain. I pick up the radio, "Blade to Batman, Nightwing is injured and down, all I have is the motorbike with me."

Dad's voice came through my ear piece, "I'm on my way, stay put."

I reached out to Dick, "Come on we need to get you on your feet." He hesitated but took my hand, I put his arm around my shoulders and made our way down to the aley. "God you're heavy!" I swore.

I heard the familiar sound of the Batmobile, one I had known since I was ten years old. The head lights blinded me for a second but they were darkened as Dad leapt out, his cape billowing around his feet. He took the weight of Dick off my shoulders, "Get in the Batmobile now," I nodded and ran.

* * *

A few hours later I walked back down into the Batcave, I had taken a shower and put on normal clothes, I saw Dad sitting at the computer looking over something, "What have you got there?" I asked him.

"Your mask-cam recorded your encounter with the Red Hood. You are right, there is something about him," Dad scratched his chin.

"He knows our names, he knows how we move and how we fight. I don't like it Dad," I put my arms on the computer desk, then winced, I had sprained my wrist. "Where's Dick?" I asked.

"He's in the medical bay," Dad motioned.

I walked around and saw Dick sitting up, Alfred was tending to his knee, "So what's the damage?" I pointed to his leg.

"I'm afraid Master Richard has a small tear in his medial ligament in his knee, a few weeks rest and a good strong bandage and he should be back to normal," Alfred informed me as he bound Dick's knee.

I gave him a sympathetic smile, that was going to annoy him more than anything, no patrol for him. I walked to the side of the bed and took his hand, "How you feeling?"

"Lousy. I can't believe that he had the drop on me," Dick said, I could see he was annoyed.

I leaned down and kissed him, Alfred coughed awkwardly and walked away. "Look, I know I promised you a night at the new loft, but how about you stay here tonight? We can just chill out and you can rest your leg."

He sighed, "That's not what I had in mind, but ok, I'll stay." He looked up, a cheeky grin appearing on his face.

"Watch it Grayson, it's only your knee that's hurt, you still have other limbs." I poked him in the ribs.

* * *

After a few days later I dropped Dick back at his loft, telling him to ring me if he needed anything, I knew he wouldn't, he was too proud. I arrived back at the Manor and walked in the front door, and walked straight into Tim.

"Ouch! Sorry," I flexed my hand, it was still a little sore.

"Didn't see you there short ass," Tim grinned down at me. I glared at him, everyone was taller than me now.

"Don't be smart Drake, our you'll be hanging by your shirt from the chandelier," I warned and began to walk away.

"Oh Alex," He called after me, "I was wondering do you want company on patrol tonight, seeing as Dick is out of action."

I was about to answer yes, but then I remembered, "No way, your SATs are tomorrow afternoon, you're studying tonight." Tim groaned, I pointed to the stairs and he reluctantly trudged up them.

"Miss Alexandra, Master Bruce is asking for you down in the Batcave," Alfred appeared. I nodded and walked down into the darkness.

To someone that wasn't used to the cave it would be a pretty unnerving place to be in. The stairs were barely lit and as you entered it looked like the darkness was going to consume you. You could hear bats moving and fluttering about in the ceiling of the cave, their wings like pieces of paper. The cave opened before your eyes, computers, training areas and of course all of the cars and bikes. But my eyes fell on Dad, sitting in the chair in front of the computer.

"All ok Daddio?" I asked leaning against the computer.

He looked up, "No. It's not."

"Care to elaborate on that?" I raised my eye brows.

"Come on, get your swords, we're going out," He rose from the seat and walked over to the Batmobile.

I quickly ran over and grabbed my gear, "A little five minutes notice would have been lovely!"

He powered the Batmobile into the city, I looked out the window and saw that we were heading into The Narrows. Once when I was eleven and just starting off as Batgirl, Dad left me in there, it was a test, a test of my character and strength, needless to say, I passed. We both made it to a height and I waited for the next command, going on patrol with Dad was very different to going out with Dick, I had to wait for the orders rather then do what I wanted.

"Ok, you head that way. I intercepted a call that the Red Hood would be hitting this area tonight, call me if you get any leads," He disappeared in a flurry of a black cape.

I was left on my own, so much for dad and daughter bonding. I shot my cable and swung from building to building. Nothing was happening, but what was that. I stopped and looked down, something was moving.

'Don't move little Blade," A familiar voice said behind me and I felt the muzzle of a gun at the back of my neck. The Hood at gotten the jump on me again. "Wow, just look at you. You know when we were kids I had such a crush on you, but you didn't see me, you only had eyes for that Circus boy. But now, I think that crush might be returning. Come on stand." I felt the muzzle of the gun come away from the back of my head, and I rose slowly turning around. "Still no idea, well I can sort of understand." He edged closer, I had no where to run, "God you're hot," He leaned towards me hand out stretched. "Ouch!" Something came out of nowhere and hit him straight across the face.

I ducked away from him and ran towards a large black figure, Dad always there to bail me out.

"What do you think you are doing?" He growled.

"Ah come on Brucey, I was just having a little fun," He threw up his arms.

Dad threw his cape out in front of me, "I want answers now," He growled.

"Always so serious, everything has to happen," Red said. "But if its answers that you're wanting, then take this and work your magic." He wiggled his fingers like the characters in the old cartoons.

"What are you doing here?" Dad asked, catching what Red threw and handing it back to me.

"I'm cleaning up Gotham!" Red spat in anger.

"You're stealing territory from Black Mask and killing anyone that gets in your way," I retorted.

Red turned to look at me, "Black Mask, is just apart of the plan."

"Plan?" Dad questioned, "You're becoming a crime lord."

"Yes!" Red threw his hands in the air, "You can't stop crime, thats what you never understood. I'm controlling it. You wanna rule them by fear but what do you do with the ones that aren't afraid? I'm doing what you won't, I'm taking them out!"

"Tell me what happened to you, let me help," Dad offered, ever the humanitarian I joked to myself.

"It's too late, you had your chance," Red narrowed his eyes, he took a gas bomb out of his belt and threw it on the ground. I pulled my rebreather out of my belt and looked around for him, theatricality and deception are powerful tools, I recited in my head.

* * *

We made it back to the Batcave and Dad went straight to the computer, "Any ideas on who this guy is?" He turned to ask me.

I ran what I had heard and learnt over and over in my head, then it hit me, hit me like a freight train, "Oh my god," I breathed, "I think it's Jason."

"Give me that thing that I gave you," Dad outstretched his hand, I passed him the flash drive that Red had thrown over.

"Oh I also got this," I slipped the gas bomb container out of my scabbard, "His prints are on it." I couldn't help notice a grin I got off Dad as I passed him the container. He placed it in the scanners and began the tests.

I took a seat and saw as Jason's file was brought up, I looked up to see a bright, happy, smiling kid, full of potential and hope. But that was all taken away from him by the Joker, that evil insane man took a young life away, silenced forever, or so we thought.

Something began to beep and I looked up, my heart sank, The Red Hood was Jason Todd, our Robin.

We had to be sure, so Dad dug up Jason's grave, part of me wanted to get sick, but the other part needed to know. Dad prized the lid off the coffin and it fell to the floor. I peered in, there was a body there.

"Well, he still rests in peace," Alfred said behind us.

I shook my head, "No Alfred, this isn't even real, a body would have done through some decomposing in this length of time, he looks as if he could walk out of here." I touched the skin, it wasn't real, this entire thing was fake.

Dad turned and walked upstairs in to the suit room. I could practically see the anger radiating off him.

"Master Bruce you can't blame yourself," Alfred went after him.

"It was stupid and careless. That fake body was made of high end latex and I didn't even bother to look inside when I brought him home," Dad retorted going in to change.

"Sir please, remember how distraught you all were," Alfred tried to reason with him.

"Stupid and careless!" Dad repeated and motioned for me to follow, I grabbed my equipment and trotted after him.

"Where are you going?" Alfred called.

"To talk to the man that did this," Dad growled.

To be continued….


End file.
